Titans volleyball closes big week with a win

Players continue to step up in new roles

By Than Acuff

It’s been a bit of a chaotic start for the Crested Butte Titans volleyball team with coach Sheri Covey rewriting her lineups every game and players stepping into new roles to fill missing spots on the court.

“Eight games in and we’re 4-4 and we’ve never had the same lineup once,” says Covey. “They’re getting very resilient.”

They opened their latest stretch of matches on the road against the Center Vikings on Thursday, August 29, falling in three sets to the Vikings and leaving one day to rework things for three more matches on Saturday, August 31.

“We still played tough against Center. I just realized I needed to change things again and moved Mandala (Covey Bleiberg) into an offensive position for the tournament,” says Covey.

So, without three key starters, including their top hitter and a blocker, heading into their three home matches on Saturday, August 31, Covey made the necessary changes and saw some immediate results.

“We started over again and they did it,” says Covey. “It was a great opportunity for everyone to get playing time. I wasn’t unhappy with any of the matches.”

They started the day against the Olathe Pirates at 8 a.m. and were thrown right in the mix. After falling in the first set 25-22, the Titans edged out a 26-24 win to force a third and deciding set only to fall 15-12 losing the match.

The Titans then had their hands full in their second match of the day against the Sargent Farmers. The Farmers have yet to lose a single set thus far this season and are ranked number one in the state in 1A. While the Titans did what they could with who they had against such a tough opponent, they still fell in two sets 25-17, 25-13, but it was far from disappointing for Covey. 

“We stayed with them, we just didn’t have anyone to put the ball down when we needed,” says Covey.

While back-to-back match losses can be tough to come back from in a single day, the Titans’ resilience was on display in their third match when they took the floor to face Nucla to edge out the win in three sets.

Crested Butte was embroiled in a back-and-forth battle through the first set against Nucla. After falling behind 10-6, Covey called a timeout and a service run from Tessa Wirsing, a block by Haley Roberts and kills from Covey Bleiberg and Emery Spencer had the Titans on top 12-11. 

The teams continued to trade points, but after an ace from Katie Maltby, kills by Hailey Huresky and Olivia Reamer, the Titans were up 24-22 with a kill by Lilian Voegeli sealing the 25-23 win.

The Titans were forced to adjust once again in the second set when they lost Huresky to an injury and they struggled as Nucla battled back to take the second set 25-17, leaving the match to be decided in the third and final set to 15 points. 

With one set under their belt and yet another new lineup, the Titans started to catch fire again as big points from Huresky, Wirsing and Covey Bleiberg had the Titans up 8-4 forcing Nucla to call a timeout. A service run by Covey Bleiberg then had the Titans up 12-4 and Nucla pressed pause on Crested Butte’s energy with another timeout.

This time the ploy worked as Nucla went on a 5-1 run to pull back within four points and Covey called a timeout to regroup her team.

The two teams traded points coming out of the break, but Nucla was slowly creeping in closing the Titans’ lead down to two points, 14-12, before Crested Butte scored to win the set 15-12 and finish the day with a match win.

“I changed everything around and they rallied,” says Covey. “They’re tougher than they’ve ever been mentally and they’re gaining experience. The leadership out of captains Mandala and Olivia Reamer was superb. What more could you want? I really do think that was a turning point for us. We’re more cohesive as a team and I’ve gained even more confidence in my bench players.”

The Titans hit the road this week to face Ouray and have their next home match on Thursday, September 12 when they host Trinidad.