The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“This game gave us more confidence and a new zeal to win”
By Than Acuff
After a stretch of matches against some of their toughest competition of the season, the Crested Butte Titans volleyball team finished the two-week run with a home win over the Antonito Trojans on Friday, October 11.
It was a rough stretch for the Titans, but lessons were learned and despite dropping five matches in a row, they came out that much stronger.
“I think we learned that sometimes it just doesn’t happen,” says senior captain Mandala Covey Bleiberg. “We worked hard, we played hard and the small things we’ve been working on finally clicked. Still, even when you are trying your hardest and pushing it just doesn’t happen. What we learned as a team was that we can control our side of the court and our effort.”
With the October break looming, the Titans were determined to shake off the fatigue in their home match before the break.
“Our energy, although slightly tired, was excited,” says Covey Bleiberg. “A home game on the Friday before break was exactly what we needed to charge ahead and take down the other team. We were super pumped up to just have a good game and dominate.”
Crested Butte opened their match against the Trojans on the front foot building a 10-3 lead in the first set paced by a match opening kill by Haley Roberts, a block from Roberts three points later and a serving run by Olivia Reamer that included a massive kill by Mia O’Neil and a cagey tip for a point by Maryn Pritchett.
“A serving streak started out that first game, and that was truly made possible by the great back row play we had,” says Covey Bleiberg. “The ball didn’t drop, allowing me to push out the ball to our hitters and get some super fun plays going. So, partially the great serves, and partially the awesome defense of our back row.”
The Trojans started to pull back cutting the Titans’ lead down to four points, but a strong service run by Hailey Huresky helped open the Titans’ lead back up and they outscored Antonito 14-5 down the stretch to close out the 25-12 opening set win.
The Titans opened the second set of the match much like the first taking a quick 9-3 lead with Covey Bleiberg setting the tone with a six-point service run, an incredible dig from Matie Halverson and another crushing kill from O’Neil. A brief surge by Antonito was soon quashed by back-to-back kills from O’Neil and Covey Bleiberg but the Trojans fierce competitiveness was on full display battling for every ball to pull within three points of the Titans, 17-14.
Crested Butte then recouped following a timeout to go on a three-point run building a 20-14 lead and forcing Antonito to call a timeout hoping to stall the Titans late set surge. The teams traded points down the stretch until a block from Emery Spencer ultimately sealed the 25-18 Titans second set win.
“We wanted kills,” says Covey Bleiberg. “As a team, we had discussed before coming into this match that the game itself would be the perfect time to try some faster offensive plays. Antonito would crawl back to meet our score, and then Mia would put one down in the middle, Hailey Huresky would crush a three or Haley Roberts would find that weakness in their defense from the outside. What kept us going was that yearning for putting the ball down and having fun taking it to them.”
The third and final set played out much like the first two of the match. While Antonito showed some grit and fight despite the two-set deficit, the Titan effort proved too much for the Trojans as Crested Butte won the third set 25-16 to take the match.
“We were super happy to be back winning, especially using all of these quicker and faster tactics and plays,” says Covey Bleiberg. “This game gave us more confidence and a new zeal to win.”
The Titans return to action when they host the Sanford Mustangs on Wednesday, October 23 at 5:30 p.m. They close out the regular season with a match against 3A powerhouse and neighbor Gunnison, in Gunnison, on Tuesday, October 29.
