The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
The Titans jumped out to an early lead in the first set, but seemed to loose focus midway through and dropped a few tough points that allowed the Vikings to take the lead midway through the first set. Despite several long rallies, the scrappy Vikings just kept fighting to take down the Titans in the first set 23-25. The battle continued with the Titans ending up on top in the second set, winning 26-24 but the Vikings dominated the third set 20-25, taking a 2-1 lead in sets. Showing some determination, the Titans battled in the fourth set to scratch out a win 26-24, forcing a fifth and final set. The fifth set proved to be a back and forth battle, with the Titans finally getting a small lead at 12-11, but they were unable to hold serve after a Viking timeout. The Titans lost the deciding set 12-15 and the match three sets to two. The long rallies provided great opportunities for Crested Butte’s young hitters. Sophomores Annie Duryea and Isabel Young and junior Madison Lambert led the offense with five kills each, while seniors Ariel Kilpatrick and Leila Nichols each contributed four kills for the Titans. Unfortunately, serving again plagued the Titans who served 81 percent, far below their 95 percent goal. In such a tightly contested match giving the opponent 20 points proved to be a significant component in the loss. The Titans needed to regroup mentally to immediately take on the Cripple Creek Pioneers. The Pioneers are still looking for their first win of the season and it would be important to not take the Pioneers lightly by dwelling on the loss to the Vikings. The Titans started out with some strong serving as junior Taylor Tyzzer put eight straight points on the scoreboard. Madison Lambert tried to match her with a seven-point serving run as the Titans took the first set easily 25-7. The second set senior Lindsay Johnson took up the challenge set earlier by Tyzzer, racking up a 12-point service run and served 93 percent in match. Six missed serves by the Titans gave the Pioneers six of their points, but the Titans won the second set handily 25-11. The Pioneers dug in the third set and provided some longer rallies and while the Titans could not put together long service runs, they still managed to take the third set and the match 25-17. The split and in particular the loss to Center hurt the Titans as a win over Center would have moved the Titans up a peg in the league standings. Now the focus has to be on the final four matches of the season. On Friday, October 10 the Titans will host the league-leading Sargent Farmers (13-1) at 4 p.m. in mighty Mt. Olympus. Saturday, October 11 the Titans will hit the road to face Del Norte and South Park and then return for their final home match on Saturday, October 18 against Custer County. With fall break week and SAT testing next Saturday, the number of Titan players will be much lower and puts additional pressure on the remaining players to work to get a couple of wins before the District seating meeting October 19.
