The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Look to rebound this weekend
The Crested Butte Titans volleyball team was overwhelmed by the undefeated Del Norte Tigers last Saturday in Del Norte. In the first match the Titans appeared to be still asleep on the bus as the entire team struggled with even basic passing. The Tigers attacked quickly and defeated the sluggish Titans in three quick sets. The Titans, as a team, had 36 passing service errors versus 26 good serve receptions. A low or negative serve reception percentage provides limited or poor offensive opportunities. Starting each serve with bad pass ultimately led the team to have more hitting errors (12) than kills (10).
Next, the Titans faced the always-tough Sierra Grande Panthers. When both teams were still in the Southern Peaks 1A league the former battles against the Panthers usually proved to be epic. Historically, the Titans had prevailed in all the previous matches so the tough Panthers were looking to take their first victory against the Titans.
The Titans still struggled with passing but showed some signs of life and the team battled the Panthers. Long rallies and scrappy plays by both teams provided for some exciting points but the Titans just could not seem to pull together as a team for any extended period of time as the Titans failed to capitalize on Panther errors. Overall the Titans fell far short of their athletic potential and dropped the first two sets 23-25 and 20-25.
Then the Titans showed some grit and dominated the third set 25-11. Could the Titans carry the ever-elusive momentum into the fourth set and force a fifth set?
Despite better serves from senior co-captain Cassidy Dodds and junior Monika Olesen and three solo blocks from senior co-captain Sara Sherman the Titans could not hold off the more determined Panthers and dropped the fourth and final set 22-25.
The two losses drop the Titans (8-6) to sixth place in the league standings. With only four matches before the first round of districts the Titans will need to pull off an upset to have a chance to host a first round district match. Thursday, the Titans travel to Sanford to square off against the third-place Indians (8-1). Saturday, the Titans travel to Westcliffe to battle the fourth-place Custer County Bobcats (5-5). Their final league home match will begin at noon on Saturday, October 13 against the first-place Sierra Grande Thunderbirds (12-1).
