MEEKER | Four teams were hosted by Meeker Cowboy volleyball last weekend in a tournament to close the season before the road to state begins. Rangely and Paonia took on the Cowboys Friday evening, each losing in three sets.
“We had a very good weekend,” said head coach Greg Cravens. “The girls get so excited to play for the crowd and it showed Friday.”
The Rangely Panthers were first to take the court against the Cowboys. The Panthers had eight total kills for the match, compared to the lady Cowboys’ 32, of which 12 came from senior Krissie Luce. Caleigh Morlan led the team with four of the 10 serving aces, the Panthers had two. After a one game rest, the Cowboys were back on the court to battle the Paonia Eagles. The girls were on fire at the net with 45 kills. Morlan, Luce and Julia Dinwiddie all boasted double digits. The defense was also on fire against the Eagles, with 75 digs and only one error. Four Cowboys exceeded 10 digs each: twin sisters Krissie and Kassie Luce, Lila Klinglesmith and Addie Joy.
The team is averaging 17 earned points a set, and Saturday when they took on Vail Christian and then Vail Mountain they continued to earn the majority of the points. Recapping the tournament Cravens commented, “Our passing was good and defensively we didn’t let a lot fall to the floor.”
Vail Mountain was the more formidable of the two opponents Saturday. Sarah Evans, the Gore Rangers lead attacker, had 10 of the 27 kills and two of the serving aces. Dinwiddie led the Cowboys with 12 of the 32 kills, followed by Syndie Main with eight.
The lady Cowboys, 23-0, are now moving into the Region 3 tournament which they will host at Meeker High School. The tournament will have three teams: Meeker, Sargent and Holyoke. Play will begin on Friday, Nov. 2 at 4 p.m.. Meeker will play the first and third games, first against No. 34 ranked Sargent and second against No. 22 ranked Holyoke, at approximately 7 p.m.
“This is going to be fun,” Cravens said. “I know both of the volleyball coaches so I’m excited to see them. The Holyoke coach and I coached together at Mountain View in Loveland a long time ago.”
The current RPI, which was posted Monday at 3 a.m., is used to seed the state tournament brackets for teams that are successful at regionals. Meeker is currently ranked third in RPI. This year the state tournament will be a double-elimination Olympic crossover bracket, as opposed to the old pool play style, and will last three days, Nov. 8-10 at the Denver Coliseum.
By Tiffany Jehorek | Special to the Herald Times
