The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Battling through Districts
After solidly defeating the Creede Miners on Friday, October 17, the Crested Butte Lady Titans volleyball team finished off their regular season as Southern Peaks League co-champs, sharing the title with the Mountain Valley Indians.
“It’s no big surprise that we’re sharing the title since we split our matches against Mountain Valley,” said coach Marla Covey. “They’ve been our biggest competition this season, and we’re hoping to have the opportunity to face them again in the District tournament. When two strong teams play each other, the level of play necessarily elevates—it turns into great volleyball.”
The Titans are definitely ready for some great volleyball. Over the course of the straight game win against Creede, they tallied 22 kills and five blocks and served just under 90 percent. The first game had only two hitting errors and kills for each of the starting six, and yet the team seemed a bit out of sorts.
“Between the senior class trip and fall break, we missed quite a few practices over the last two weeks, so we definitely appeared a little rusty,” said Covey after the match. “As the match progressed, though, they started to look more like the team I know they are capable of being.”
In the second game, both the Titans and the Miners picked up their level of play. With 40 spike attempts—nearly two times the attempts of the first game—the Titans added another nine kills to the team average. The Miners, too, began to connect from the front row, forcing the Titan defense to dig up some harder hits and to cover more court in order to finish off each point.
Crested Butte responded to Creede’s elevated intensity in the third game by focusing in, playing exceptional defense, and going for every serve. The stronger effort from the service line led to a team total of six aces and a number of passing errors on the Miners’ side of the court. The Titans won the match 25-17, 25-22, 25-20.
After the match, Covey immediately started thinking about this week’s District tournament. “The girls ran more complex plays than they usually do, and I’m looking forward to more of the same as we enter into the District tournament.”
The Titans opened the District tournament on Tuesday, October 21, beating the Moffat Cowboys.
After cruising through the first two games, 25-6, 25-18 the Titans struggled with their serve in the third game losing 23-25.
They regrouped to take the fourth game 25-19 for the match win. The win sends the Titans to the next round of the District tournament on Friday, October 24 at Sierra Grande, where they will play three matches at 10 a.m., noon and 3 p.m.
The top two teams from the District tournament qualify for the Regional tournament to be held in Gunnison on Saturday, November 1.
