Cowgirls battle for league win

MEEKER — It has been a very wavy road to start the volleyball season.
The team scheduled six matches with schools bigger than Meeker, with the exception of Nucla, for its pre-season jump.
The team has played with Grand Junction Central, Steamboat and Glenwood Springs, playing point for point but unable to get the wins in the end.
The Cowgirls found their groove against Moffat County and seemed to have lost it again against Roaring Fork last Tuesday night. This wasn’t the team’s best showing of the pre-season, to say the least. The one thing it did give the girls was the opportunity to dig in and find the character of Meeker Cowgirl volleyball.
This character was put to the test in Edwards against Vail Christian on Friday night. The first league match for the Cowgirls started as the previous games have — tight! The Cowgirls made a few hitting mistakes at 24-24 and lost 26-24, then dropped the second. As the team has unfortunately done in the past, it backed itself into a hole for the third game of the match. This is the point at which we called on our character and drive to get us back in the match.
Meg Nieslanik rose to the occasion. Playing a position she hadn’t played in the pre-season, and literally taking one for the team, she helped to push us ahead in the third for the win.
The fourth game seemed to come naturally. When the situation called on veterans Marki Cook, Sydney Cook and Janae Kindall, they were able to step up and make plays. Kelcy Brown and Kelcey Kendall contributed in their respective roles to help finish the game in the fifth and deciding game.
We will push ourselves forward, calling on our character every chance we get to pull us through the tough times and drive us through the others. Teams are what win games, and character is what defines them. We hope to see you in the gym.