The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Searching for their stride
This past weekend the Crested Butte Lady Titans split matches with Center and LaVeta to stay even at 7-7 on the season. The Lady Titans traveled to Center (2-6) on Friday to take on the Vikings. Center has a developing program and several strong players, and the Lady Titans knew the Vikings would provide a challenge.
Set one, the Lady Titans seemed to have recovered from their injuries and came out strong with solid passing, leading to a 25-14 win. Set two saw injuries flare up and while Crested Butte still played well, they dropped a tight set 24-26.
Sometimes it is easy to pinpoint when momentum changes in a match; other times it appears that a team is working hard but nothing goes right, from start to finish. The latter was the case in the third set as the Lady Titans struggled, losing quickly 5-25.
Now down 2 -1 in front of the exuberant Viking fans, Crested Butte had to dig deep and change the course. Fortunately, whatever had hit the Lady Titans in set three seemed to plague the Vikings in set four as the Titans jumped out to a 9-1 lead, eventually winning the set 25-17 and forcing a game five.
The Lady Titans sealed the match win, taking the fifth set 15-12. Seniors and co-captains Toni Brown and Skylar Kraatz led the team with 9 and 10 kills each. Skylar also led with seven solo blocks, which frustrated the Viking hitters. Strong serving by junior Cassidy Dodds produced 17 points on the day.
Following the long Friday night match, it was nice to return to Mt. Olympus to host the LaVeta Redskins on Saturday. LaVeta has a strong volleyball program, placing fourth in state last season. Despite losing several key starters to graduation, the Lady Titans knew the Redskins were going to bring their A game.
The hard-hitting Redskins baffled the Titans in the first set and the Titans rolled over quickly losing 6-25. It was once again gut-check time for the Titans, they were either going to quit or fight.
The next set the Lady Titans worked with an aggressive blocking game plan. The block is the first line of defense and slowed down LaVeta’s offense as middle blockers Skylar Kraatz and junior Sara Sherman began frustrating the Redskins’ big middle hitter and left side hitters. After a few key blocks, the Redskin hitters were forced to try to hit over and around Kraatz and Sherman.
The Lady Titans battled hard as Kraatz led with seven kills, followed closely by Brown with five kills but dropped the second set in a much better effort 20-25. The third set was back and forth, with neither team giving up more than two points per rotation until the Lady Titans finally lost the set 19-25.
This weekend, the Lady Titans have a tri-match at Sangre de Cristo on Friday. Crested Butte will travel and take on both Custer County (4-7) and Sangre de Cristo (2-7). Both teams have solid programs but, much like the Lady Titans, have not yet found their stride. Crested Butte will then take advantage of the break until their next home match on Saturday, October 15 against the Sargent Farmers.
