After struggling last weekend at Cheyenne Central and East, the Lady Bronc volleyball team is now focusing on their upcoming games at Regionals this Friday and Saturday.

Looking back, the team played their hardest, but fell a little short to the Cheyenne schools, now making their conference scores 4-8. “I think if we actually wanted to win, we could have. We needed that will to win if we wanted to beat Central and East in the end,” said senior Celena Kelly.

The team had a hard battle against East last Friday night, where they lost their three games, but not by that much. “Against East, the team lost its momentum. They would do great and get ahead, but then fall back and couldn’t get caught up when East would take that opportunity and score more points,” said coach Stephanie Stender However, the team puts these two losses behind them and focus on what’s next: Regionals.

With season games done, the varsity players head to Gillette Friday to face Laramie as their first opponent. With the bracket play, the girls have matches after they play Laramie, but their strategy is to focus on that game first. “The team plays Laramie first, so they’re going to focus on that game and not worry about the ones after that. They’re going to work on shutting down one of Laramie’s star players, and we’re going to work on fine-tuning the blocking on the team, as well,” Stender said.

Varsity has already defeated Laramie twice and lost once, so the scores could fall either way on Friday. “We’re practicing, working hard, and trying to be a connected team for Regionals,” said junior Becky Bridger. Stender also said, “I hope they do the best they possibly can. They are capable of beating any team with their talents.” The varsity girls must win at least twice to qualify for State the following week.

After Regionals, the team only has State left, so their 2012 season is almost at its finale. “At the end of the season, I want everyone to be proud of what we did and to love each other no matter what happened during the season. Basically, I want to end the season having made lasting friendships,” said Kelly.

Everyone is welcome to come support the Lady Broncs when they play at 1pm this Friday in Gillette.