The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Battle for first place this Friday at Mt. Olympus
The Crested Butte Titans continued their home stand last weekend starting on Friday night hosting the Creede Miners. The Titans took time to honor their seniors—Hillari Spencer, Sydney Loyed, Kelsey Beltz, Ali Turner and Bet Llavador—for their commitment and dedication to the program. The Miners always provide a tough match for the Titans with a solid line-up of good athletes, and this year was no exception. The Titans struggled, staying mentally focused all evening, which kept the Miners in the match.
Junior Karleigh Dean slowed down the Miner offense with a total of four blocks on the evening. Sydney Loyed added six kills and Shannon Holleran had five more kills. Kelsey Beltz provided two blocks and served four aces and ten points. The loss of focus showed most in the serving as the Titans served 79 percent as a team against the Miners down from 87 percent last weekend. Despite 20 serving errors as a team, the Titans persevered and won the match in four sets 26-24, 25-17, 22-25 and 25-7.
Saturday the Titans hosted the Sierra Grande Panthers in an afternoon match. The Panthers are always a strong defensive team and when these two teams meet long rallies are the norm and this match proved no exception. The Titans knew they would have to step up their play to come out with a victory. The Titans purposefully chose to reduce mental errors in the match. While the team still struggled behind the end line, as a team they improved to serve 84 percent reduced serving errors to 14.
Sophomore Skylar Kraatz stepped up and proved a strong presence at the net, racking up six blocks and four kills. Karleigh Dean had three additional blocks and six kills. Shannon Holleran had nine kills and added ten points and Sydney Loyed provided another ten kills and 13 points.
The Panthers made the Titans work for every point, but the Titans worked hard and won the match in four sets 25-20, 16-25, 25-23 and 25-20. The Titans improved their overall record to 10-2 and took sole possession of second place in league with a record to 8-1.
This Friday the Titans have their final home match of the season, hosting the league-leading Mountain Valley Indians from Saguache. In early September, the Titans lost the first match of the season to the Indians in straight sets. If the Titans want at a share of the league championship this season, a win over the Indians is required. Titan middle school matches begin at 4 p.m., with varsity scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Come and support the Titans in their final home match of the season!
