The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Close regular season in Mt. Olympus
Finding consistency and maintaining intensity has been the Achilles heel of the Lady Titans volleyball team this season. The Titans looked to shake that when they headed to Sangre de Cristo for a tri-match on Friday, October 7.
The first team on their agenda was the Custer County Bobcats. Led by senior co-captain Skylar Kraatz, the Titans started with all pistons firing, working together, and found a groove against the Bobcats. As a team the Titans served 88-percent for the match and Kraatz led all the Titans with 8 kills and 5 total blocks. The Titans took the match in three sets 25-17, 25-21 and 25-21.
Next the Titans took the court against the home team Sangre de Cristo Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds have historically had a strong team. Celebrating both parents’ night and senior night, the T-birds hit the court with enthusiasm. The Titans, once again, could not seem to find a rhythm in their overall game. As a team, passing consistency declined and the team missed nine serves during the match. Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds worked and chased down every ball, frustrating the Titan hitters.
Kraatz maintained her rampage at the net racking up another 11 kills and six additional blocks. Working through an injury the past couple of weeks, senior co-captain Natalie Bowen returned to her normal level of play, working the back row to set the pace with 4.7 average digs per game against the T-birds.
But, the Titans needed everyone working hard if they were to take down Sangre and they just couldn’t get it together. The Thunderbirds took the match in straight sets, 18-25, 16-25 and 16-25.
The Titans record continues to stand a .500 with eight wins and eight losses. They will take a few days to recover before returning to the gym mid-week to finish the regular season with three straight home matches.
The next three matches will be pivotal for the Titans, as wins would greatly improve their District seeding and determine where post-season matches will be played. The Titans open the three-match home stand against the improving Sargent Farmers (5-9) on Saturday, October 15 with matches starting at noon.
The Titans close the regular season the following weekend in mighty Mt. Olympus when they host Antonito on Friday, October 21 and Paonia on Saturday, October 22.
