Tailgate party kicks off first home volleyball game

The lady rustler volleyball team had their first home game of the season this last weekend against Rocky Mountain College. Student services hosted a tailgate party Friday night to help kick-off the volleyball season. Members of Rustler Riot face painted for the game.

Friday night the first set was 24-15, the team lost the next set with a score of 20-25. The team came back in the next set winning by two points, 25-23. Unfortunately, the girls lost the next sets; 17-25 and the final set with a score of 14-16.

“It was a tough opening weekend for us,” said Tiffany Stauffenberg, head coach. “We have worked on passing for three straight weeks and we really struggled with it all weekend. When you can’t pass, it makes the rest of the game that much harder.”

Saturday’s game didn’t play well for the lady Rustlers as they lost three sets. Set scores were 18-25, 14-25 and 14-25.

“We had good moments both nights but just not enough of them. We have a lot of work to do but most importantly, we need to get chemistry,” Stauffenberg said. “We have a lot of young players and they need to start trusting one another on the court. We hit the road for the month of September and play in some really tough tournaments; we need to use those tournaments to improve so we are ready for our region IX matches by the end of the month. Every team in our region is extremely tough this year.”

“It was a tough weekend but under coach Stauffenberg’s coaching the team will find their rhythm and will continue to improve,” said Steve Barlow, athletic director. “As the students get to know each other and become more comfortable as a team they will have success”