Titans’ volleyball sees mixed results in weekend matches

Headed to Monte Vista for more league showdowns

Last weekend the Titans volleyball team had another three matches, starting Friday night when the Titans hosted the Sanford Indians (5-1). The Indians have a strong, athletic team and most think Sanford should challenge for league and district titles this season.
The Titans exhibited their typical first home match jitters and started slowly committing too many unforced errors. With the Indians fielding a tall hard-hitting line-up the Titans knew the middle blockers were going to have to provide a strong first line of defense. Both middle blockers, senior co-captain Skylar Kraatz and junior Sara Sherman, hit the court with an aggressive mind-set to block the Indians.
In the match Kraatz racked up six solo blocks and two assists and Sherman added another nine blocks and six assists; unfortunately the aggressiveness also accounted for nine net violations in the match. The Titans dropped the first set 13-25 and the second set 17-25. With the blockers getting good touches and disrupting the hard-hitting Indians, defensive specialist senior co-captain Natalie Bowen accumulated 20 digs on the night.
The Titans dug in and with strong serving from junior Cassidy Dodds to start the set and Sherman at the end of the set, the Titans won the third set 25-22. Failing to capture any momentum off of the third set victory, the Titans fell apart and dropped the final set 9-25.
Early the next morning the Titans headed to Cripple Creek for two matches. Missing two senior starters due to ACT testing, the pressure would be on the younger Titans to step up to help the team.
First was a rematch against the South Park Burros who defeated the Titans last weekend in a tournament. With several players in different positions the Titans played timid in the first two sets and struggled for any consistency. The Titans dropped the first and second set 20-25 and 13-25.
Senior Emily Talbot moved from her normal right side to the left side hitter and provided three kills for the Titans. Sophomore middle Monika Olesen provided 4 kills while senior Klara Wohlers lead the Titans with five kills.
Finally, in the third set the new line-up started to find a groove and capitalized on the Burros missed serves and pulled out 25-22 win. Not able to capture the momentum from the win, the Titans floundered in the fourth set, finally losing 13-25.
Next the Cripple-Creek Pioneers were ready to take on the Titans. It was time for the Titans to “woman-up” and work together to salvage the weekend with a victory.
With Emily Talbot out with an injury, another new line-up took the court and dropped the first set 20-25. The Titans settled in and won the next two sets 25-20 and 30-28 to go up two sets to one. Not in their nature to do anything the easy way, the Titans worked hard but fell just short in the fourth set 26-28 and forced the match to the decisive fifth set.
The new line-up against the Pioneers had moved defensive specialist Natalie Bowen to outside hitter and she took full advantage of the opportunity. Bowen served 11 points and provided nine key strategic kills in the match. Sherman worked the net again and added seven blocks and two kills. Lindsey Kopf contributed six service points and two kills.
Throughout the day, Cassidy Dodd’s provided solid serving 20 points in both matches. Senior Klara Wohlers stepped up her game again with four blocks and five kills. Sophomore defensive specialist Rosie Ewert contributed 15 digs including a key dig at 14-14 that dropped in for a point and gave the serve and the lead at 15-14 to Crested Butte. With a strong serve by Sara Sherman, Monika Olesen stuff blocked the Pioneer middle hitter and sealed the victory for the Titans 16-14.
After two weeks of regular season play the Titans have a 4-4 overall record. This Saturday, the Titans travel to Sargent high school (Monte Vista) for another two-match day. First the Titans tackle the always-tough Sierra Grande Panthers before meeting the solid Sargent Farmers. Crested Butte’s next home match will be Thursday, September 22 against Del Norte, with junior varsity at 4 p.m. and varsity at 5 p.m.