RANGELY I The Rangely High School girls’ volleyball team began its season with a tournament in Aspen on Friday and Saturday, getting the season started with wins.
The Panthers won three of four matches and proved they are going to be a very competitive team this year.
Head coach Jimmie Mergelman said, “We are still pretty young, but (the team members) are really doing what it takes in practice to take care of business on Friday and Saturday.”
The first game of the tournament was against the traditionally tough league opponent, West Grand. The Panthers came out strong, winning the first game 25-20.The team from Kremmling fought back to take the second game, forcing an extremely close third game. Rangely lost 18-16.
The young team showed what they are made of as they bounced back to win three straight matches to finish the tournament.
Starting for the Panthers were freshmen Katelyn Brown and Sarah Conor, sophomores Katye Allred, Antonette Doris, Lindsey Thacker and Sydney Shaffer and juniors Courtney Bell and Justyne Dembowski.
Combined with outstanding play off the bench from Carrie Goddard, Desiree Coombs and Simone Heinle, the Panthers are extremely tough in every rotation and appear to be a team that will only get better as the season progresses.
The solid team play allowed the Rangely girls to finish off Hotchkiss, Aspen and Basalt in two games each, providing confidence going into the regular season.
Rangely plays Hotchkiss Friday and Paonia on Saturday in two league matches.
