MHS volleyball heads to state tournament, still undefeated

MEEKER | The road to state for the Meeker Cowboys was paved with a season of wins, tough matches and a group of girls ready to battle it out in Denver.
“I have never had an undefeated team, and I am so glad these girls battle every night to make it happen,” said head coach Greg Cravens. The No. 3 ranked MHS volleyball team hosted the regional tournament last weekend and were victorious over the Sargent Farmers and Holyoke Dragons, winning each 3-0.
“It was great to play in those matches on Friday,” said Cravens, “Our girls needed some pressure on them.”
Meeker’s first game against Sargent was tight in the first couple of sets. Sargent didn’t let a lot hit the floor or make a lot of errors.
“They couldn’t find a way to hit against us so they tipped a lot,” said Cravens. Meeker had trouble in the beginning of the sets picking up the tips, but as soon as they adjusted their defense and began to hit, the Farmers were in trouble. Seeing the girls trying to make adjustments Cravens called a timeout and, “…told them how fun it was to play in competitive matches every once in a while.”
All three sets were nearly the same score: 25-18, 25-19, and 25-17 in Meeker’s favor. Julia Dinwiddie led the lady Cowboys in kills with 12 for the match, and Krissie Luce had 11 of the 36 overall. The team averaged 17 earned points a set with a 0.175 hitting efficiency.
The second game against Holyoke, ranked 22, were closer matches, 25-21, 25-2 and 25-10. Cravens said Holyoke’s Taeryn Trumper, “Could jump out of the gym and we had to focus on where she was to make sure we had a block upon her.” Holyoke also had freshman Kristin Vieslemeyer, who “may have been the only person we have faced this year that could jump with Julia,” Cravens said. The tighter first two sets show up in the stats: hitting efficiency dropped to 0.153, with only 31 kills; serving was at 89.6 percent and only two aces, which also led to the tighter score.
Meeker’s state championship bid begins Thursday, Nov. 8 at 5 p.m. at the Denver Coliseum. The double-elimination tournament will continue for three days ending with championship games on Saturday.
“I love this time of year,” Cravens said. “The girls need to know that all of the records are reset, 0-0, and if you lose twice you are done.” This is the lady Cowboys’ chance to prove “how good we are against the best in the state,” he added.
CHSAA is offering live point-by-point scoring of the 2018 Colorado High School Volleyball tournament and it will be linked on the Herald Times Facebook page.

By TIFFANY JEHOREK | Special to the Herald Times