RANGELY I The Rangely volleyball team played Vail Mountain and North Park over the weekend and came up short in both matches. Adding insult to injury was an injury to defensive specialist Simone Heinle Friday night.
The Panthers came out flat Friday and lost game one 12-25. Then came back with tremendous defense from Heinle before her injury with 14 digs, along with Carrie Goddard with 15, and Lindzey Thacker and Aimee Hogan each adding 10 digs to the defensive efforts. Rangely won game two 25-23 and showed they can beat teams with consistency. They were led in serving by Goddard with 21 serves, Hogan and Courtney Bell each added 17.
On the offensive side, Thacker led the team with five kills on 30 attacks, with Katye Allred adding four kills off of 10 attacks, and Chelsea Ficken had four kills on 25 attempts. The team is trying some different rotations and some changes in their line-up and they hope to come back strong this week as they play Plateau Valley in Rangely Thursday with games at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m., and then host Hotchkiss Friday with games scheduled for 4, 5 and 6 p.m. The games are league games and certainly matches the Panthers can capitalize on, as they look forward to a big week of volleyball ahead to change the momentum for their team.