Laramie Favored Again for the High School Volleyball Season [VIDEO]
A new prep volleyball season has arrived, and the Laramie Lady Plainsmen will be contending for another 4A state championship in 2023.
Laramie will be in the role of favorite this season after losing only one starter and one more contributor off last year’s squad that placed third at the state tournament.
Leading the charge will be returning Gatorade Wyoming Volleyball Player of the Year and senior Maddy Stucky. The University of Wyoming volleyball commit has been an all-state performer for three years. She will be joined by returning all-conference middle Michon Sailors, plus Tessa Dodd, Ava Plassmeyer, Savannah Steiert, and Anna Sell. Other players in the mix include Kierra Gardner, Sidnie Study, and Carson Milam.
Head coach Jill Stucky says she has a group of kids who want to be great.
“They don’t just want to be good players; they want to be great players. It’s easy for me to remind them of that every day. We love representing our school. We love doing everything we can to get to that state championship match and find a way to win it, but we also want to play beyond that, too. I have kids that want to come in and learn more every single day. They want to learn more about attention to detail and technical things, not just good enough to win in Wyoming. We want to be good enough to win nationally.”
KOWB’s David Settle caught up with two of the three seniors, Maddy Stucky and Anna Sell to preview the 2023 season. That was after last Saturday’s intra-squad scrimmage. That video is at the top of this story.
Coach Jill Stucky feels like she has more depth compared to the state title teams in 2020 and 2021.
“If we have a kid that’s just not playing well, I can look down my bench, and I have other kids just waiting to come in, just waiting for their opportunity, their chance.”
The focus early with the team has been to improve how they handle pressure. Stucky felt that was evident after last weekend’s scrimmage.
“We need to get into pressure serving situations, and I think our defense and block needs to get more organized.”
She’s confident the group can handle being scrutinized in those areas of the game.
“If I can bring those two things together, and attention to detail with our offensive and defensive systems, I feel like we’re close, but we’re not at the execution point that I want us to be. We have a season ahead of us, and I’m really excited about it.”
Laramie opens with five matches on Friday and Saturday at the Cheyenne Invite. Four of those matches are at East High School and one is at South High School. LHS will play Rock Springs, No. 2 Kelly Walsh, Natrona County, Thunder Basin, and Cheyenne East.
Their first home match will be on Sept. 15, 2023, versus Cheyenne Central. There are only five home matches in the 2023 schedule.