The East High varsity girls’ volleyball team just made history by winning their third-straight Class 4A championship. EHS swept Kelly Walsh in the championship match, winning in three sets, with scores of 25-20, 25-18, and 25-23. This state championship is East’s fourth in five seasons.  East junior Duquesne Moratzka had the winning kill, as the shot ricocheted off the arm of Kelly Walsh’s Hadley Lloyd and into the stands, securing the Lady T-Birds’ championship win in the third set.

“It was a great moment,” said Moratzka in an interview with WyoSports.net. “We all worked so hard for this one. It was an amazing feeling.”

The Lady T-Birds were certainly put to the test in their final battle against the Lady Trojans. In the first set the game was tied 13-13 after a Kelly Walsh kill, but East’s Jazzy Espinoza was able to push the score to 19-13 in favor of the T-Birds with a series of consecutive blocks. After winning the first set, Espinoza, along with teammate Marina Howard, orchestrated a series of three kills in the bottom of the second set to earn another T-Bird win. In the third and final set, tensions were high as Kelly Walsh managed to tie the game 23-23. A short serve from Kelly Walsh’s Kaycie Stack gave East a one point lead and set Moratzka up for the championship winning kill.

Final stats for the game showed East’s Cosette Stellern and Howard each with 10 kills, Moratzka with nine, Espinoza and Makenzee Fagenbush with six, and Sierra Stellern with four. EHS setters Clara Sanders and Lexi Trowbridge had 17 and 16 assists respectively, while on the defensive side of things, Sydney Montoya had 17 assists. Cosette Stellern and Espinoza each had four blocks while Sierra Stellern and Howard both turned in three.

“All glory goes up to God, he’s blessed us with such an amazing team,” said Cosette Stellern in an interview with WyoSports.net. “It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made coming here. To get a three-peat with this team is unreal, and I’m just blessed to be part of it.”