Despite losses, Titans volleyball on upswing

“They’re ready to win, they want to win, they’re ready to excel”

[  by Than Acuff  ]

The Crested Butte Titans volleyball team jumped into the deep end last week with four matches against perennially stout programs and while they came out of the stretch without a win, the week was far from unsuccessful.

“We had one of those growing weeks,” says coach Sheri Covey. “It’s impressive what the players got out of it.”

“I think through the past week we’ve been able to learn a lot from our losses, and we’ve become more cohesive emotionally which shows on the court,” says junior captain Mia O’Neil.

It started off with a match against the Center Vikings on Tuesday, August 26 losing 3-1 but not without a fight.

“I thought we were going to come back and win the fourth game and force a fifth, but we just couldn’t pull it off,” says Covey.

They then stepped it up another level on Saturday, August 26 with a three-match tournament starting bright and early against the Olathe Pirates. After winning the opening game 25-21, the Titans fell in the second game 25-20 and then dropped the third and deciding game 15-11 to fall to Olathe 2-1. The Titans then took the floor to face the 3A Salida Spartans and struggled falling in straight games 25-17, 25-13.

“The match against Olathe was a bummer,” says O’Neil. “Definitely a close match up but we struggled to pull through in the end.”

They closed the day of volleyball against the Sargent Farmers, a program that is often in the mix in the post season every year. After falling in their first two matches of the day, the Titans could have spent the third and final match just going through the motions against the Farmers. Instead, they rallied and put all they had to offer out on the floor.

It didn’t start out well for the Titans as the Farmers jumped out to a 4-0 lead. After their top hitter was shut down on an early attempt, the Farmers started picking out gaps in the Titans defense with pinpoint dinks.

“Having Maryn Pritchett and Hailey Huresky as centers makes hitters change things,” says Covey. “They get a block and hitters start thinking about it.”

Huresky then got a tip for Crested Butte’s first point and the energy shifted in the Titans side. Team defense and solid hitting from O’Neil tied the game 4-4 and they proceeded to go hit for hit with the Farmers. A tip into a gap in the Farmer’s defense by Lanaea Clifton had the game tied up 15-15 and a kill by Huresky kept the game tied 17-17.

“We put Lanaea in throughout the day to see what she could do,” says Covey. “She’s left-handed and that makes it hard for opponents.”

Haley Roberts did the same with a pinpoint shot down the stretch, but the Farmers adjusted their game appropriately to outscore Crested Butte 8-3 down the stretch for the 25-20 win.

Crested Butte opened the second game of the match determined not to give the Farmers an early lead as the two teams traded points capped by an ace from O’Neil to tie the game 5-5. A strong service run by Pritchett and diligent work by Roberts and the Titans team continued to keep the ball alive and set up additional kills for O’Neil and when Pritchett picked the back corner with a kill the Titans were up 18-17 forcing the Farmers to call a timeout.

“Maryn just served an aggressive ball, she went after it,” says Covey. “And Mia was hitting the ball out of her head and playing great defense.”

The teams were notched in a 22-22 tie after a bad serve by Sargent, but the Farmers clamped down and while O’Neil finished with one last crosscourt kill, the Farmers held on for the 25-23 win to take the match.

“It was the best game I’ve seen them play,” says Covey.

“We learned a lot about how to support each other through our losses and in the game against Sargent it just seemed to all come together,” adds O’Neil. “When the team chemistry is working, everyone tends to perform better.”

And it wasn’t just the usual suspects for the Titans. Not only did the typical standouts have a big week, but Covey saw some things from supporting players as well as the JV squad.

“Carly Ezzell just moved into a starting varsity role and when I ask her to correct a skill, she does it,” says Covey. “She has an amazing way to correct skills on the fly. We didn’t see Carly or Lanaea coming. The JV players are all in too and that’s what team is all about. This team is surprising me on many levels. They’re ready to win, they want to win, they’re ready to excel” 

The Titans remain at home this Friday, September 5 as they host the South Park Burros at 5:15 p.m. in mighty Mt. Olympus.

“I hope we can bring that energy from last weekend with an extra week of working on the details,” says Covey.