THERMOPOLIS — A few adjustments here and there, and the Hot Springs County volleyball team had one of their best weekends yet, coming off the Rawlins Invitational tournament in Rawlins on Sept. 9-10.

The Lady Bobcats dropped all three games in pool play in their final pool match against Douglas. HSCHS volleyball coach Shannon Hill went back to an old formation and moved outside hitter Lexi Overfield to the middle.

While they still lost to Douglas 2-0 (21-17, 21-18), the play from the Lady’ Cats was highly encouraging. Overfield was still able to generate offense from the middle and could go for more blocks on defense.

“Friday was a little rocky for us, but I was trying some new rotations,” said Hill. “We tried a 6-2 with two new setters, and it was kind of chaotic. In the last match, we played against Douglas, and I went back to a 5-1 with one of the two setters. Then I switched Lexi Overfield from outside to middle.

After pool play, the Lady’ Cats played in the silver bracket. They lost to Wheatland 2-0 (21-11, 21-9) but went on to beat Torrington 2-0 (21-14, 21-17) and Lovell 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 15-9).

“We played so well, and it was the best I’ve seen the girls play. We were up six points on Douglas and should have won, but it was a good game for us, and the girls were excited. They were playing fast volleyball and were making plays and kind of flustered Douglas. We stuck with those changes on Saturday, and Wheatland got us in the first game, but in the next two, we played really well.”

Feeling good about the current rotation, Hill wants her team to keep improving their serving and building chemistry in the 5-1.

“We need to keep our serve more often and limit other team’s runs. That’s what we focused on in our last two matches by getting out of our rotations faster and getting the ball back. Lexi was great on the outside, but as a lefty, our setters weren’t always able to push the ball out there to her left hand. In the middle she has more room, and her blocking is really impressive. It made a huge difference for us having her in the middle,” said Hill.

Hill’s daughter, sophomore setter Hannah Hill started to find a rhythm with her hitters in Rawlins. Jaycee Basse played well from the libero position. Overall, the Lady’ Cats began to gel as a team during the second day of the tournament.

“Hannah Hill is a sophomore and our new setter and fed Lexi and Ina King in the middle when we needed her to. When we needed her to mix it up, she mixed it up and played really smart. Ina can jump out of the gym, and once they get their timing down, they’re going to be fun to watch. Jaycee Basse was my libero, and she played well on defense and was passing well too. It was a total team effort. Everyone did their part, and it was fun to watch them,” said coach Hill.

The Lady’ Cats jump into their regular season schedule this week with two home games. Friday at 6 p.m., they host the Powell Lady Panthers in a 3A Northwest division game. Then on Saturday, the 2A Big Horn Lady Rams come to town for a 2 p.m. match.

Friday’s game against Powell, the Lady’ Cats will try to speed up their offense to get Powell out of system and limit the impact of Powell’s middle Addy Thorington.

“Powell has a talented middle, so we need to throw them off their offense. Then we need to focus on connecting with the setter and running the offense like we want to run it. We also can’t be afraid to hit around blocks,” said Hill.