For the third year Cowboy volleyball hit the road to Buena Vista for their annual tournament, featuring some of the toughest teams in the state.
“Playing bigger schools is good for us but also shows us what we need to work on before a playoff run,” commented head coach Greg Cravens.
The Cowboys went 1-3 on the weekend, playing a series of 3A teams: Rifle, Salida, Gunnison and Centauri.
“We had some moments that we were playing well this weekend,” said Cravens, “and we also had moments that we didn’t play well.”
Meeker struggled against Rifle with defending the middle attack and didn’t serve receive as well as they needed to. Rifle currently sits in the number 17 slot in 3A.
The Cowboy win came with the whole game play against Salida.
“It has been awhile since we felt we played well for a full match and it was good to put a full match together,” commented Cravens.
Meeker was able to get it done in two against a playoff-contending 3A team.
Final matches of the tournament were against Gunnison and Centauri, both top 12 3A schools.
The Cowboys lost in two sets in both games.
“Defensively I think we are playing very well,” Cravens said. “We will continue working on our blocking this week to get ready for regionals.”
Meeker has one of the top Liberos in the state, Taylor Garcia, who hit 1,000 digs this weekend while in Buena Vista.
“Offensively we struggle at times,” said Cravens. “We have a tendency to freeball the ball to the other team too often and we need to keep the other team in jeopardy more.”
Regionals seedings were released and brackets manipulated so that league teams will not face each other, which means Meeker is making the trip almost all the way back to Buena Vista, they will be going to Leadville to be hosted by Lake County. The three team bracket will also include Trinidad, and Meeker will open with them beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday.
