The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Homecoming this weekend
The Crested Butte Titans had a rough ride this past week with a full schedule of matches against league opponents, coming out of it with one win and two losses.
Last Saturday, the Titans hosted the South Park Burros and the Del Norte Tigers in a round robin tournament that would truly test the Titans’ mettle.
They opened the day against South Park in search of a little revenge after losing to the Burros in the first match of the season.
Starting off slowly, the Titans hung on but dropped the first set 24-26, setting the tone for the remainder of the match. With the first home match jitters out of the way, the Titans took control of the second set 25-18. Unfortunately, the Titans stalled again and lost the third set, forcing the Titans to win the next two sets in a row if they wanted to secure the match victory.
The battle intensified with the teams exchanging points. Junior Madison Lambert and sophomore Annie Duryea provided the offense and sophomore Isabel Young’s job was to alter their tall middle hitter‘s opportunities. Crested Butte edged South Park in the fourth set 25-22 and carried the momentum to build a 6-2 lead in the fifth and final set. But South Park adjusted and battled back to take a 13-12 lead before the Titans rebounded to finish them off 15-13 and take the match.
The Titans were mentally fatigued taking the court next against the Del Norte Tigers and despite having both adrenaline and momentum, failed to find a rhythm in the match. The Titans were unable to find the spark and committed several mental errors, including missing several critical serves, losing the match in three sets 19-25, 13-25 and 21-25. Sophomore Emilya Ramsey had the stand-out performance, leading the team with five kills against Del Norte.
The Titans looked to rebound on Tuesday night as they hosted Sanford in mighty Mt. Olympus. The match was the official kick-off to Homecoming Week sports action and the Titans looked to open it up with a win over a perennial powerhouse.
“They’re usually at the top of our league,” says coach Marla Covey. “We beat them for the first time ever last season.”
The Titans came out firing against Sanford, building an early lead in the first set. Once the enthusiasm wore off though, Sanford climbed back into the set and the teams were tied 22-22 before coach Marla Covey called a timeout.
The pause worked, as the Titans came out to win the next three straight points and win the first set 25-22.
Then, the rollercoaster ride turned ugly again. The Titans were in the second set paced by a couple of big kills by Young but then Sanford ramped up and capitalized on poor service by the Titans to run away with the second set 25-9.
The Titans opened the third set slow again but fought back to tie the set 5-5 with a quick burst. Unfortunately, just as they started clicking, they got derailed once again. Making matters worse, Sanford’s hitters got red hot with a series of punishing kills as Sanford won the third set 25-16.
“We’d have the fire, miss a serve and lose all of our momentum,” says Covey.
Down 2-1 in sets, the Titans’ backs were against the wall once again. They responded to the pressure initially, winning the first three points and fighting off a Sanford rally to keep them within striking distance. But service errors plagued the Titans again, allowing Sanford to jump out to a 15-9 lead. Young came up with a huge block that fired up the crowd and team, but the Titans struggled to ride the surge.
Maddie Lambert rattled off a strong service run to pull the Titans back to within striking distance, but Sanford held off the Titans’ last-ditch effort to win the set 25-20 and take the match three sets to one.
“We gave them too many free balls,” says Covey. “We needed to be more aggressive and hit the ball. We’re still struggling with communication and finding intensity in a game, a lot of up and down.”
The Titans volleyball team caps homecoming week on Saturday, September 20 when they host Antonito with matches starting at 11 a.m. in Mt. Olympus. Covey hopes to see a mental shift this week to finish the frantic week with a win.
“Antonito is always really scrappy. They fight for every point,” says Covey. “We have to be offensively minded and put it away.”
