Laramie Advances to Wyoming State Volleyball Tournament

The Laramie High School volleyball team finished third at the 4A East Regional Volleyball Tournament in Gillette this weekend. The Lady Plainsmen earned the No. 3 seed at the Wyoming State Volleyball Tournament which will start in Casper on Thursday.

LHS almost saw their season come to an end on the first day of the tournament when they lost their first match to Sheridan 26-24, 25-22, 22-25, 17-25, 11-15. One more loss and Laramie would have been eliminated from the tournament. The Lady Plainsmen beat Cheyenne South 25-12, 25-11, 25-19 to stay alive and then had to play a late night match against Sheridan after the Lady Broncs lost to Cheyenne Central. The winner would go to state and the loser would go home.

Laramie won the first set 25-18, but then lost the next two 20-25 and 29-25. Before the start of the next set, LHS head coach Trisha Witkop says her team told her they weren’t ready for their season to be done. Then they hit the court and proved it, easily winning the next two sets 25-9 and 15-6 to punch their ticket to state.

“That was just amazing,” said Witkop after the win over Sheridan. “That was the best I’ve ever seen them play. Trust, confidence, energy, everything was there. It was so awesome to see them hit their potential and now we have another week to see where the ceiling is and see how far they can go.”

Day two of regionals started off rough as a tired Laramie team dropped a match to top-seeded and eventual 4A East regional champion Cheyenne East 22-25, 7-25, 14-25. But the Lady Plainsmen proved they were a team to contend with when they finished off the tournament by handing Gillette a loss on their home court 25-20, 25-21, 14-25, 25-17.

LHS (18-15) will start play at the state tournament on Thursday in the Casper Events Center when they take on Kelly Walsh. KOWB will have coverage starting at 6 p.m.