The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“It’s a mindset thing”
by Than Acuff
The Crested Butte Titans volleyball team had a tough weekend dropping matches to the Custer County Bobcats and the Telluride Miners over the course of two days.
The Titans faced the Bobcats earlier in the season but injuries forced players to play in new positions during their first meeting eventually losing that initial match. This time around the Titans were back to full strength and feeling confident heading into the rematch with Custer County.
“That first match I was missing two middles but this time we were able to play them full force,” says coach Erin Goggins.
The Titans showed in the opening set of the match that they were ready to bring a better game against the Bobcats as they battled though the entire set to eventually eke out a 26-24 win.
Unfortunately, that energy eventually subsided over the next three sets. The Titans hung tough through the next two sets but lost those 21-25, 21-25 and then an injury to their libero had Crested Butte scrambling for the final set falling 8-25 to lose the match.
“I don’t know what happens to us,” says Goggins. “We always play a strong first game but can’t keep it going. I feel like they’re not used to leading a game.”
Sami Lakoski led the team with eight kills, Sophia Kubisak and Sylvie Newman combined for nine blocks and Madison Pankey tallied four aces and six digs.
“We played well and I have no complaints,” adds Goggins. “We do a good job passing, setting and we’re ready on defense and our hits are consistent, we’re just not aggressive hitters.”
The Titans returned to the court on Saturday, October 5 to host the Telluride Miners looking to shake off their recent slide but injuries flared up again.
With their starting libero out, Goggins had to move setter Audrey Griffin back to libero, and three other players were out which then led to additional moves throughout the line up.
The Titans rolled with it and put together a strong effort in the opening set before falling 20-25. Telluride then stepped up their game with a couple of big hitters doing a lot of damage to win the next two sets 25-13, 25-12 for the match win.
Alex Downey was all over the place with two aces, two kills and 15 attacks and Griffin filled in the position as libero very well.
“I think the girls played well for how much we had to switch things up,” says Goggins. “They’re ready to step into any position I need them to. Telluride just had some really strong hitters and were a very offensive team.”
Ultimately Goggins believes if the team can shift gears into a different attitude in matches, things should fall into place.
“It’s a mindset thing,” says Goggins. “We’re ready to play defense and do it well, we’re just not offensive. We’re working on getting the mentality of being more offensive and not just playing defense.”
