The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Home match this Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
by Than Acuff
Volleyball is a game of rallies and right now the Crested Butte Titans volleyball team is on a heater winning six of their last seven matches including rattling off four wins over the past week to improve to 11-4 on the season, their best start to a season in almost 20 years.
“Team chemistry is building,” says assistant coach Heidi O’Neil. “Volleyball is a sport of communication and energy and ours is getting stronger.”
The recent winning streak started on the road against the Monte Vista Pirates on Thursday, September 24. The Pirates would prove to be a challenge for the Titans, as expected, but also provided Crested Butte an opportunity to shake off the five set blues.
“We expected a very fundamentally solid team that does not give up on a ball and that is exactly what we got,” says O’Neil.
The match was a classic battle as the two teams traded sets throughout. The Titans opened with a 25-21 win, fell in the second set 25-21, dropped the third set 27-25 but rather than fold after the tough loss, the Titans rebounded to win the fourth set 25-21 to send the match into a fifth and deciding set. And that’s when things got really exciting.
The Titans started strong winning the first point after a long rally. But the Pirates’ consistency would test the Titans, and the two teams traded points until the Pirates won three in a row to go up 12-9 and the Titans called a timeout.
“Our captain, Mia O’Neil, said ‘if we win any set this season, it was to be this one’,” says Heidi.
Monte Vista won the first point following the timeout, two points away from the match win but the Titans dug even deeper. A kill from Mia, block from Haley Roberts and an ace from Grace Williams tied it up 13-13 forcing Monte Vista to then call a timeout.
Once again, the teams traded points and after the Pirates won a long rally, they were up 15-14, match point and looking to seal the deal. But on the ensuing point, Williams came up with a massive dig to eventually lead to a kill from Mia to tie it back up. Then, the Titans took another gut punch.
After seemingly winning the next point to go up 16-15, the officials ruled in Monte Vista’s favor and once again, Crested Butte was staring at another match point. After bringing the hammer at the net with big hits for most of the match, a light touch from Mia caught the Pirates off guard and the Titans tied it back up. Haley Erickson then provided some savvy at the net to pick a gap with a touch over the net to put the Titans up 17-16 and then they sealed the deal setting up Mia for one last kill to win the set 18-16 and the match.
Mia led the team with 32 kills getting most of her sets from Erickson who finished with 35 assists. Erickson added in nine digs while Williams had a complete game with three aces, 10 kills, two blocks and 13 digs. And, as a testament to the depth of the Titans this year, Jamie Moran and Mira Fisher flowed into the rotation to combine for 19 digs.
“Monte Vista was playing conservatively and just putting the ball over the net to try to force us to make a mistake,” says Heidi. “We stayed aggressive and were relentless on both defense and offense. We wanted to get the ball to Mia on offense and every single player on the court played their hearts out to make that happen.”
The five-set win also showed the progression of the Titans thus far having lost two five-set matches earlier this year and could be a sign of a shift in the Titans mentality.
“At that point in a game, it comes down to heart, and our team collectively had more than Monte Vista,” says Heidi. “It was a total team effort, and the coaches could not be happier with our players. We proved that we can come back from being behind and we can win in a high-pressure fifth set. We are no longer playing to not lose, we are playing to win and sticking to our game plan.”
The Titans returned to the road on Saturday, September 26 for three matches in one day and while a hard fought five-set win can leave a team depleted two days later, Crested Butte rebooted to continue to bring the heat on Saturday.
“Our goal was to use Saturday to work on some of our chemistry issues and to dial in on running a faster offense,” says Heidi.
They opened the day by knocking off Sierra Grande in four sets, but it wasn’t easy.
“Sierra Grande just absolutely pursued every ball,” says Heidi. “Their block was solid, and their tip coverage was impressive.”
The Titans did the same to Creede and finished the day with a straight set win over Ouray. Mia and Williams continued to bring the hammer on Saturday combining for 91 kills over the three matches while Jo Miller racked up 38 assists and Lanea Clifton 34 assists as Roberts and Lilian Voegeli served up 10 aces.
“We worked hard and played a lot of volleyball in 72 hours,” says head coach Cierra Abbott. “Although we saw some great things, these games highlighted a lack of discipline as it relates to unforced errors. Our goal for this week is to minimize these errors and capitalize on opportunities to finish rallies fast.”
The Titans now return to the road for their toughest challenge of the season when they face the Del Norte Tigers on Friday, October 2. The Tigers are currently 10-3 and ranked 13th in the state and are in first place in the league. Crested Butte then returns home to host Trinidad on Saturday, October 3 at 3:00 p.m.
“Del Norte will be one of our toughest games of the season,” says Heidi. “If we show up and play our best volleyball, it’s going to be a battle. It’s going to come down to us keeping our confidence and composure one point at a time.”
