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The Weimar Ladycats enter this season after reaching the postseason every year since missing the playoffs in the 2011 season. After over a decade of postseason history on the team, the current version of the Weimar Ladycats are looking forward to potentially continuing that streak this season. With a host of players planning to return this year after quality seasons last year, the Ladycats are hoping that they will keep their streak alive while having a deeper playoff run than they did last season.
Last season came with several fluctuations in terms of performance as the Ladycats ran into their fair share of struggles compared to prior seasons. They had some difficulties maintaining long win streaks throughout the season and even suffered an extended losing streak during the early part of the season. The silver lining for Weimar was that many of their difficulties occurred during the non-district portion of the schedule as they withstood a 5-game losing streak during some of the toughest parts of their tournament schedule. The Ladycats scheduled themselves against several other top teams and took an even number of wins and losses throughout that difficult stretch.
Fortunately for Weimar, the experience may have helped them during the district portion of their schedule as they did just enough to claim a spot in the postseason. They did not display the same level of dominance they did in 2021 when they finished their district schedule with an 8-2 record that secured the second-place spot in the standings. Weimar found themselves even with many of the teams in the district who had also improved from a year prior. The Ladycats could even have had a stronger finish in the district if they found a way to take a few wins in their final district games of the season. They entered the postseason riding a three-match losing streak to finish the regular season.
Despite a somewhat rough ending to the regular season, a hot start to their district schedule helped the Ladycats secure a postseason spot. Once in the playoffs, the Ladycats let the experience they accrued throughout the season help them take the advantage over a couple of their playoff opponents. They improved their play significantly after reaching the pressure-packed situations of the postseason, sweeping their first-round opponent to claim the bi-district championship.
After winning in convincing fashion against Woodsboro in the postseason’s first round, the Ladycats followed with another strong win in the area championship against Burton. Weimar allowed Burton to win just one game as the Ladycats handled their opponents in just four games to move on to the next round.
Unfortunately, the Ladycats had a familiar foe waiting for them in the third round as the Thrall Tigers also were in the midst of their own deep playoff run. Thrall was the team responsible for sending Weimar out of the postseason in each of the prior two seasons. The Tigers made it three times in a row after a three-game sweep of Weimar last season to end the Ladycats season once again.
Weimar will be counting on the continued development of some of their young varsity players to improve the team’s fortunes as well. Last year’s freshmen like Janiyah Cooper and Madison Luckey will likely take big roles in their sophomore seasons.
While the Ladycats will miss production from some of their graduates like Paige Pavlu and Kim Hinze, they feel confident that the talent to compete with the top teams in the district is still on the roster as many players will be asked to take on bigger roles for the team. For a program that is clearly built for the postseason, their focus will be on reaching the playoffs once again and having one of their deepest postseasons during their streak.
