CHEYENNE – Cheyenne East maintained control of almost the entire match against Cheyenne South on Saturday.

The Lady Thunderbirds swept the Bison 25-19, 25-22, 25-19, in the final regular season match of the season.

Prior to Friday’s match, East hadn’t competed since Oct. 8 after being forced to quarantine following COVID-19 contact tracing.

“We did a lot of things well, there are some things we need to work on in practice after being off (for two weeks),” East assistant coach Ryan Anderson said. “But, we played hard and competed, and that’s what’s most important.”

After the first set was tied 5-5, the T-Birds were ignited by a five-point run, capped by a service ace from Hailey Marshall. East eventually grabbed a 22-13 advantage.

South went on a six-point run of its own and pulled within reach after trailing by four late in the set, but East took a timeout, stopping the run, and junior Jenna Merritt put the first set away with a kill.

“We have to have our entire team show up and not just one player,” South coach Cherisa Applehunt said. “We had glimpses of the entire team show up, but we just have to stay consistent with that.”

Just as they did in the first set, the T-Birds jumped out on an early run, this time it was a nine-point run to give them an 11-5 lead. The Bison gradually chipped away at the lead and cut the deficit to one prior to tying the set three different times before Merritt, again, ended the set with a kill.

“As a team, we played together, we had a lot of energy and we managed to stay composed, which is one of our struggles,” East senior Ashley Marshall said. “We minimized our errors and were able to just give them a lot less points (than we have been).”

East opened the third set by scoring seven of the first eight points and, following a Boden Liljedahl service ace and a hitting error from South, the Bison were forced to call a timeout when trailing by seven early on.

Arianna Stensaas notched three kills for South’s next three points and, shortly after, a kill from Martinez put the Bison down by only a point.

Elysiana Fonseca had a kill and the T-Birds never let the set score come within two points before Fonseca closed out the set, and the match, with a kill.

Kayla Lesh had nine kills while hitting at a 45% clip for the Bison. She also added five blocks and four digs. Martinez finished with four kills and seven digs.

The Regional tournament starts Thursday for East, South, Cheyenne Central and Laramie in Laramie. The T-Birds have won seven of their past eight matches, with the only loss coming at the hands of undefeated Laramie on Friday.

After being sidelined for two weeks, East hopes to get some momentum back before heading into the postseason.

“We’re trying to use these two games back to gain some momentum and get some time back on the court,” Anderson said. “The biggest thing is minimizing our errors, and getting our timing, rhythm and confidence back.”

Robert Munoz is a writer for WyoSports. He can be reached at rmunoz@wyosports.net. Follow him on Twitter @rmunoz307.