Panthers roll in first home match with North Park

RANGELY I The Lady Panthers are on a roll.
That was certainly the case Saturday, when in game one of a Western Slope League volleyball match against North Park, Mikayla Schoenfeld reeled off 14 straight points. In game two, she served 11 straight points.
“We played really well,” coach Jimmie Mergelman said. “I thought Mikayla did an excellent job serving.”
Rangely, playing its first home match of the season, beat North Park in three games, 25-12, 25-13 and 26-24 to improve to 7-1 on the season.
“I played all the subs (in game three), so the younger kids got a chance to play,” Mergelman said. “We were down 16-11 with the younger kids, but they fought back and did a nice job.”
The night before against another league opponent, Paonia, the Lady Panthers also won in three games, 25-19, 25-14 and 25-21.
“We played pretty well. We just got off to a slow start in the first game. We were down like 7-2 or 7-3 or something to start, then we pulled away,” Mergelman said. “The third game was back and forth.”
The Rangely coach praised the play of frontline players Marie Morton and Victoria Phelan.
“They did a great job,” Mergelman said. “And Roz (Thacker) does a great job playing defense in the back row.”
Before the start of Saturday’s match, teammates Dakota Kenney and Torie Slagle presented flowers to Rhonda Tucker, the mother of Lynea Osborne, a former Rangely volleyball player who died April 1 of a heart condition. Osborne would have been a senior this year.
“The girls just wanted to do it,” Mergelman said. “They presented her mom with some flowers and (Lynea’s) favorite color was purple, so they wore purple ribbons in their hair.”
Rangely will play another home match Friday against Vail Mountain. Then on Saturday, the Lady Panthers play at Collbran against Plateau Valley. Both are league matches.