Evanston volleyball team continues to improve

Josh Hall
Posted 9/14/17

The Evanston volleyball team is off to a 9-6 start and the Red Devils continue to show improvement.

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Evanston volleyball team continues to improve

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EVANSTON — It didn’t take long for Evanston High School volleyball coach Tera Lawlar to learn this year’s team isn’t afraid to fight when the going gets tough.

In the Lady Red Devils’ season opener, Evanston came away with a five-set win after dropping the first two games of the match.

That alone spoke volumes for Lawlar, now in her 18th season at the helm. 

“We’re working with kids that are like little bulldogs,” Lawlar said. “If they get knocked down, they’re going to come back bigger and stronger. That’s exciting.”

Evanston is now 9-6 and ranked seventh in Class 4A after claiming a 25-17, 25-22, 11-25, 26-24 win against Star Valley on Tuesday.

It was the Lady Red Devils first game without three-year starting setter Hailey Barker, who suffered a severe ankle sprain in a 25-21, 18-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-12 win against Natrona on Saturday. 

Barker is expected to miss roughly four weeks with the injury.

“So much of our early success was dependent on our timing and connections with our middle attackers,” Lawlar said. “That was after many, many months of open gyms and early, 5:30 practices.”

Since Barker’s injury, Evanston has switched from a 5-1 offense to a 6-2. Senior Nicole Bott and junior Kaylie Critchfield, who previous set for the junior varsity team, will fill in during Barker’s absence

There will be a bit of a learning curve for Bott and Critchfield, who are playing at the varsity level for the first time in their careers, but Lawler is confident the duo can get the job done. 

They proved that Tuesday.

“We’re proud of how they are stepping in,” Lawlar said.

Evanston is looking at this season as a building process. The Lady Red Devils make it a goal to get better each practice and take winning one game at a time.

But they do have one ultimate goal.

“Our goal has always been to win state,” senior middle/right-side hitter Hannah Ellingford said. “And I think this year we have a really good chance.”

Evanston lost between five and six starters from last year’s team, but the Lady Red Devils return six players that all logged significant minutes at the varsity level a year ago.

“We’ve improved, game by game,” senior outside hitter Emmery Wagstaff said. “We’ve gotten better at our defense, for sure.”

But there was something else that has really stood out for Wagstaff about this year’s team.

“I noticed this a couple of weeks ago – this team has a lot of heart,” she said.