How Sweep It Is: Herders stun Buffalo with home shocker in straight sets

   After a five-set thriller against Wheatland, and matches with close sets against Douglas and Torrington, the Glenrock High School volleyball team has shown vast improvement.

The downside is the Herders had no wins in those matches  to show for it. They finally got their statement game and served it in front of their home crowd Oct. 17 with a huge upset and sweep of Buffalo 25-22, 25-14, 25-23.

Behind the hitting of Sheridan Sarvey, Malorey Lawrence and Caitilyn Williams, Glenrock unleashed its most prolific attack of the season. The Bison had very few answers to stop GHS at the net, which is a trend the Converse County girls hope is a building block heading into regionals next week. 

The Herders trailed for a bulk of the first set but never backed down, exchanging big plays the entire way. The first big exchange was a pair of kills via Tatium Helmey and Williams, along with four straight service aces by sophomore Peyton Dona that gave GHS its first lead at 8-5.

A pair of unforced errors allowed Buffalo to pull even and grab its biggest lead at 13-9. It was short lived as the defensive help from Clara Toner, Madison Zeiger and Bailey Cornella corralled the Bison hitters.

Those stops also opened the door for the Glenrock front line to do some damage of its own. Sarvey, who has been relentless in conference play, Williams and Helmey blasted kills to spark the rally. Zoey Wasik scored on a dump set and Lawrence crushed a shot to even the score at 17.

The Herders never trailed again. Freshman Brylee Anderson buried connective attacks to reclaim the lead, which set the pace for Sarvey to nail two attacks before Williams ripped the set winner.

The momentum didn’t shift during the break. GHS went immediately on the attack with a trio of kills courtesy of Sarvey, Lawrence and Anderson to jump out to a 5-1 edge. 

Buffalo pulled within two twice but any kind of advantage was rejected by Williams, Cornella and Lawrence with a scattering of digs. GHS used its  defense to its advantage and went on a small run via a kill by Helmey and a pair of BHS unforced errors to go up 11-5.

A Bison time out did nothing to slow Glenrock. If fact, the lead grew to 10 after an ace by Williams, a stuffed block from Helmey and an attack delivered by Lawrence made it 18-8.

A pair of outside hits allowed Buffalo to reduce the lead to eight, and no closer. A dump set by Wasik, and back-to-back blasts by Sarvey and Anderson secured the second victory. 

The Herders held the upper hand early in the finale. A barrage of hits by Sarvey and Lawrence and two aces served by Williams led to advantages of 6-2 and 9-5.

The Bison slowly chipped away at the deficit. Sarvey contributed a stuffed block and a kill but Buffalo answered by scoring seven of the next nine points to eventually grab its first lead at 12-11.

Glenrock’s only struggle of the night followed. A couple of hitting miscues and quality hits from the other side of the net allowed Buffalo to build a 17-13 advantage and move closer to forcing another set.

That run finally stopped when Helmey smashed a kill down the line, which sparked the come-from-behind victory. Anderson and Sarvey were successful on attacks to even the score, and Cornella put the team up 18-17 with an ace.

The fight to the finish began with the scored tied again at 18, 22 and 23. The Herders had enough and sent Buffalo to the bus after the final kill by Anderson and the match winner via an ace by Williams.

Glenrock has two more chances to build upon the win and have a shot at the No. 2 seed behind defending State champion Douglas. The squad will finish up the regular season at 6 p.m. Oct. 23 at Burns and wrap up at home 2 p.m. Oct. 24 for senior night against Newcastle. 

The regional tournament is set for Oct. 31-Nov. 1 in Rawlins.