ROCK SPRINGS – Mustang Volleyball opened its region tournament play in efficient and overwhelming fashion Wednesday evening defeating the sixth-seeded Rustlers of Central Wyoming 25-9, 25-7, and 25-14 to advance in the winner’s bracket.
The win sets up a showdown with the second-seeded Casper College. Casper defeated Eastern Wyoming College in yesterday’s nightcap.
“Way to start the tournament,” Mustang Coach Wendy Bider said afterward. “Our focus was to control the tempo of the game, and I felt like, in all three sets, we ended up controlling it. We had an amazing string of serves that caused the other team to over-pass the ball. It made them take themselves out of their tempo of game.”
“We probably passed at the highest passing percentage of our entire season during this game – 2.23. We had our highest hitting efficiency that we’ve had as a team overall. I think it was about .500. That means we were hitting five out of every 10 balls efficiently. Across the board, we had all of our attackers doing that.” – WWCC Head Coach Wendy Bider.
The third-seeded Mustangs dropped a heartbreaking regular-season finale on the road at Casper Oct. 29, and Bider said she looked forward to a rematch. The two teams will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday.
“I want revenge against Casper, because when we went up there we ended up getting beat in a fifth-game set, so I’d actually like to play them,” the coach said. “But whomever we play, we just have to show up exactly like we did today.”
Bider credited the raucous Mustang Rowdies crowd with setting the tone for Wednesday’s contest. The team is certainly pleased to play in this tournament on a friendly floor, she added.
“We have an amazing crowd. Our crowd is just awesome,” Bider said. “It should be to our big-time advantage.”
In Wednesday’s other tournament action, #4-seeded Laramie County Community College defeated #5-seeded Sheridan College to advance in the winner’s bracket, setting up a Thursday match against top-seeded Northwest College, which had a first-round bye.
For the complete schedule and bracket information, go to WWCC Athletic Page
