CASPER — The MVHS Buffalos defeated the LHS Eagles last Saturday in the 3A state volleyball tournament in Casper in five sets: 20-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-23, 16-14.

This is the Buffalos’ fourth title with the last one in 2020. The last time they won two championships in a three-year period was from 1995-97. By taking down the Lyman Eagles, the Buffalos stopped the Eagles from repeating as the 3A champs.

Mountain View finished this season 35-4-1. Lyman wrapped up the season 33-6-1.

Mountain View’s team bus was met on the Urie-Carter I-80 interchange and escorted into Mountain View Sunday about 1 p.m. by the Uinta County Fire Department with sirens and lights.

Both Mountain View and Lyman have been the titans of 3A throughout the season and fans speculated when push-came-to-shove, these would be the two teams to battle at the net for the state championship this year. That is what happened when 3A West champ Mountain View and runner up Lyman coursed through their games at the state tournament last week.

Mountain View beat Lyman in the 3A West Regional final, but Lyman posted two wins over Mountain View during the regular season.

Coming off of the West Regionals, they again faced each other in the championship game, this time at the state tourney at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper. Their game was one of four championship games going on at the same time at the facility. It was reported, as the four classes played the final outcome of their seasons, the noise from the crowds and fans could have raised the roofs. There were a lot of fans, a lot of vocal fans for all of the teams as they battled at the nets at their final games of the season. Both Mountain View and Lyman had members of their football teams on hand to cheer for their teams during the game.

These two teams met for the championship in 2021, which Lyman won in an epic 5-set match. At the Ford Center in Casper on Saturday, it was another 5-set epic match in the championship with Mountain View turning the tables for the victory. It was back-and-forth the whole way with returning all-state selection Ashlee Tims leading the way for Mountain View, and Lyman had a returning all-state player in Sage Bradshaw.

Prior to meeting at the net for one final time this year, Mountain View and Lyman had to ace their play starting on Thursday of last week, move forward to Friday and then step on the court on Saturday.

Mountain View’s first game last week on Thursday was against the Buffalo Bison. Lyman’s was against the Newcastle Dogies. And par for the course, both teams won their games in three sets. The scores for (W1) Mountain View 3 versus (E4) Buffalo 0 were: 25-22, 26-24, 25-15

The final score for (W2) Lyman 3 versus (E3) Newcastle 0 were: 25-12, 25-20, 25-16.

Both teams were back on the court last Friday and both played four sets for their games. The MVHS Buffalos took on the Powell Fillies winning in four: 25-18, 25-22, 24-26, 25-17. The Lyman Eagles played their second game of the tournament and also won their game in four sets against the Worland Warriors: 25-16, 25-20, 21-25, 25-11.

As the two teams met at the court in the first set, MV’s Kate Walker had the opening serve. LHS ‘s Paige Rose was able to return the ball but the Buffalos couldn’t dig the return so the Eagles put the first point on the board of the game. They gained a 3-point advantage and the Buffalos countered with a point. The Eagles stayed in the lead, gaining a 6-point advantage, 8-2. A kill by Buffalo Ashley Tims followed by a serve by Tims cut the Eagles’ lead to three. On a kill by Eagle Caroline Bradshaw, the Eagles upped their lead to four and soon doubled the score against the Buffalos, 10-5. The Eagles maintained the lead even though both teams were putting points on the board. The Buffalos tied the score at 14, went ahead by one point, which was followed by a tie at 15. The score was tied at 16 and 17. The Eagles gained a slight edge and maintained this edge through the rest of the set taking the lead by four, followed by the set point, 25-20, to take the first set.

In the second set, the Buffalos put the first two points on the board. The Eagles responded, tying the score at two. The Buffalos edged ahead. The score was tied at four. The Eagles edged ahead, and then the score was again tied at five. Trading points, the two teams continued to tie the score at seven, eight, nine, 10, 12, 13, 14. The Buffalos put two points on the board from a kill by Kallea Pitts and serve by Mylie Micheli, 16-14. The Eagles ramped up and tied the score at 17 from a kill by Hailey Eldredge. From this point on in the second set, the Buffalos maintained a one or two-point lead, till reaching time for the set point, 24-22. An ace by Izabell Hickey gave the Buffalos the set point, 25-22.

The Buffalos put up the first point in set three. The Eagles responded.

Next, the Eagles and Buffalos headed into set four, a must-win for the Buffalos to keep their hopes of continuing the game alive. Mountain View was putting the points on the board, gaining a four point lead which the Eagles cut and tied the score at six. The Buffalos gained a one-point lead, followed by a 2-point lead off of a kill by Walker. They added points following a violation on the Eagles and a block by Pitts at the net which dropped the ball on the Eagles side to give them a four-point lead.

The Buffalos regained their edge on the score and kept one or two points ahead of the Eagles, earning the set point, 25-23, to take set four.

In set five, Mountain View put the first two points on the board. When the Buffalos blocked the ball and it went out of bounds on the Eagles side, the Eagles claimed their first point. The Buffalos edged up to 10-points, then trailed the Eagles by one 12-10. The score was tied at 13, and again at 14 and 15. A block by the Buffalos at the net gave them a one-point advantage. 16-15. This was followed by a point off of a serve by Hickey for the Buffalos to take set five, 17-15, and to win the game.