EVANSTON — For 2018, Class 4A volleyball was expanded from 12 to 16 teams, with four teams competing in each of four quadrants. Evanston was grouped in the 4A Southwest conference or quadrant with Star Valley, Green River and Jackson. Evanston and Green River tied for second at 3-3, behind 6-0 Star Valley and ahead of 0-6 Jackson. By virtue of a tie-breaking formula, Red Devil volleyball went into regional tournament play in Rock Springs as the third seed from the 4A Southwest and emerged as a third seed for the state tournament with a third-place finish among the eight team field. 

Eight teams qualified for the tourney and another eight did not. Evanston was matched against the Lady Plainsmen of Laramie in opening round action at the Casper Events Center, the venue in use for the 4A state volleyball tournament.Laramie, the eventual state runner-up to Kelly Walsh, defeated Evanston in three sets (25-21, 25-14, 25-22).

Head coach Tera Lawlar believed her team was peaking at the right time with everything coming together during the regional tournament, in particular, in the five-set loss against Cody.

“Even though it ultimately ended in a loss, we played our best volleyball to date against Cody. We were playing confident and assertive. All the little things we had worked on all season came together,” Lawlar told the Herald.

The first goal was achieved in qualifying for the state tournament.

“But you want to make an impact at the state tournament and get a win,” Lawlar added.

Lawlar and her staff scouted Laramie as best they could with a limited amount of film available on, coupled with short window of time.

“We started off big. I think we were up 12-6 in the first set,” Lawlar recalled of the opening pairing against the Lady Plainsmen on Thursday, Nov. 1.

“We played strong. We served well, we passed well, but as the match progressed it appeared as though Laramie had more stamina and more weapons. They had a back row hitter from the right side, who I later found out, had the match of her life. She played fabulous. Laramie simply had too many offensive weapons, but you can’t ask for anything more when your team gives you everything they had to give,” Lawlar added.

The coach continued.

“We knew we had played well and after that first win or first loss at state, there’s a lot of emotion,” Lawlar shared.

“Our kids rebounded and responded well. They were not ready to hang it up,” she said.

The loss sent Evanston to the bottom side of the bracket where the best a team can finish is third-place. Evanston was matched against Natrona County, a former conference rival, prior to the new alignment.

“Fortunately, the limited film we had on Laramie was mostly of their game against Natrona. We knew we were going up against Grace Dubay, who is arguably the premier volleyball player in the entire state, but we knew how to play against teams with a great player like her,” Lawlar asserted.

Evanston won a hard-fought, five-set match against the Fillies (25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 14-25, 15-11) on Friday which propelled Red Devil volleyball to a showdown with Thunder Basin on Saturday morning, to earn the right to play for third-place.

“For most of our girls, the win against Natrona was the first victory they had ever had in any state competition, in any sport, volleyball, basketball or soccer. That was wonderful, but it was made even more special and meaningful by the way they played together, much like we had the week before at the regional tournament,” Lawlar stated.

Evanston again started strong and had a similar 12-6 or 12-7 advantage in the opening set against the Lady Bolts, as they had managed against Laramie.

“They just came on strong and we didn’t keep up,” Lawlar said of the (25-18, 25-11, 25-14) loss to Thunder Basin. 

Lawlar called a time-out when Thunder Basin hit point 22 in the third set to impart a message to her team.

“This is my time-out for you guys to take all of this in, remember what this feels like and most importantly to remember that you guys are playing as a team and playing together. And that’s what this is all about,” Lawlar avowed.

The coach had high praise for her team following the loss which ended their season in the double-elimination format of the state tournament. Lawlar stated that this group of girls had been great teammates to one another for not only this season, but through all four years of high school and even back to their middle school days of playing together. She acknowledged that her team realized they were playing some of their best volleyball at the right time and that was a source of pride.

“They went out with their heads held high and I believe this team represented our program, our high school and the Evanston community extraordinarily well,” Lawlar said.

The coach also lauded her team for its outstanding GPA as a team and being students first.

“When it was over, we cried. Not so much because of the loss, but because there was a genuine feeling of ‘I’m really going to miss this.’”

As previously mentioned in the Herald, Ajahonna Archuleta was an all-state and all-conference selection and Kayli Sharp was named all-conference honorable mention.

The team will stage the end-of-seson awards dinner on Monday, Nov. 19, and the Herald hopes to have a follow-up story regarding the celebration of the 2018 season of Red Devil volleyball.