Titan spikers jump into season with Montrose tournament

Home match in new Titans gym this Saturday

The Titan volleyball team jumped into the 2010 season on Saturday, September 4 with a five-match tournament in Montrose.
The team is led by three returning starters, outside hitter senior Shannon Holleran, senior middle hitter Karleigh Dean and returning junior setter Sydney Jernigan and key defensive specialist senior Aysa Stillo. With so many matches slated for the day, the match format changed to a best of three series rather than the standard best of five format.
The first match pitted the Titans against the Grand Junction JV. The Titans played a solid first match winning in three sets 25-21, 13-25 and 15-11. Sophomore middle hitter Sara Sherman started the season off on the right foot by providing a presence in the middle, hitting 50 percent in the match with five kills in 10 attempts.
The Titans then squared off against Cortez JV. The Titans struggled to play with intensity and so their consistency suffered. The Titans won the first set 25-23, dropping the second set 16-25. The Titans could not tap into the desire needed to finish the match, losing the third set 12-15. Senior Shannon Holleran led the team with 20 hit attempts and five kills and served 90 percent in the match.
The next match pitted the Titans against the Telluride Miners. Telluride is a well-coached team with strong athletic players. The match provided some great rallies for the crowd. While the Titans worked hard they could not hold off the Miners and dropped the first set 21–25. The Titans failed to find a good rhythm in the second set, allowing a seven-point run by the Miners to drop the second set 15-25. Junior outside hitter, Toni Brown started to find her timing in the match with seven attempts and four kills with several key line shots providing much-needed kills.
Moving to bracket play the next match pitted the Titans against former league rival the Ouray Trojans. The Titans have dominated the previous matches against the Trojans in recent years. Ouray plays an unconventional style that often initially trips up the Titans. The Titans had to work to play at their tempo and gain control over the match. Titans won the match 25-17 and 25-11. Senior Melanie Whiting stepped into the middle hitting position and provided solid play, and sophomore Cassidy Dodds stepped up her offensive skills with a solid game with two key kills.
The Titans closed the tournament with a rematch against the Grand Junction Tigers. The Titans came off a slower paced match against Ouray while Grand Junction had just won a close three-set match against Fruita-Monument JV.
The Tigers carried that momentum into the match against the Titans. The Titans worked hard and had some long rallies against the Tigers but could not sustain any scoring runs in the match. The Titans dropped their final match of the day 11-25 and 14-25.
The Montrose tournament provides a good warm-up to the regular season and offered the Titans a chance to work on playing their game against teams with different styles and tempos. Overall, the team demonstrated some strengths to build upon; the competition also revealed some weaknesses that need improvement.
The team served 83 percent on the day, which is a strong for the opening day of the season. Setter Sydney Jernigan provided a solid mix of sets to her hitters with 50-plus sets to the middle hitters and 75-plus sets to outside hitters. The Titans need to learn from both the wins and the losses and work on playing with more intensity and continuing to work together as a team. Improvements need to be made quickly in this short week because league play begins Friday, September 10 with a road trip to play the Sanford Indians.
This Saturday, September 11 is the first of only four home matches this season and marks the official grand opening of the new Titan Gym when Crested Butte hosts the Cripple Creek Pioneers. The matches start at 2 p.m. with JV and then varsity.
The team and administration encourage the entire community to come see and celebrate the completion of the new facility. All are invited to come out and see your new Community School gym and cheer on the Titans on Saturday.