MEEKER I The Meeker High School volleyball team showed great teamwork and perseverance coming back from an emotional loss to Paonia for homecoming on Friday night to beat a scrappy South Routt County (Soroco) team on Saturday.
Coach Atwood said, “The players talked this week about the urgency to play and support each other as a team. This was tested on Saturday. It is matches like this that the leaders show they are leaders by example — digging in and getting the job done.”
“The team truly did work together behind great ball distribution from Piper Haney,” Atwood said.
“Taylor Neilson and Aly Ridings proved again why they are captains, putting the ball away when needed,” she said.
Atwood also complimented the play of the entire team as the win was a total effort. She said, “Sydney Hughes and Reagan Pearce continued to perform at the level they have all season. Syd is doing a great job defensively and getting kills at crucial times, and Reagan was protecting our side of the court with her net play.
“Our support players contributed to the execution of our game plan,” she said. “Paige Jones and Megan Parker had a great match both hitting and blocking. Defensively Britney Smith and Jamie McLaughlin didn’t allow balls to fall on our side of the court.”
Clearly this is the type of play they hope to take with them as the season winds down and post season approaches. Their final regular season games will be against Rangely on Friday and West Grand on Saturday.
If the lady Cowboys win both matches, Meeker will be the No. 2 seed for the district tournament. This will set up a No. 2 versus No. 7 seed on Tuesday evening in Meeker.
The winners of the first-round games will advance to the semi-finals and finals of the district tournament held in Paonia on Oct. 26. The top three teams from this district will advance to the Regional Tournament the following weekend for their chance to qualify for the 2013 State tournament.