MEEKER | It was another successful weekend for the Meeker Cowboys volleyball team, who dominated Vail Christian and Vail Mountain. The Cowboys who are currently ranked third in Class 2A with a record of 7-0, ended the weekend winning six of seven sets, only losing their second set of the season in set two to Vail Christian. There are four teams undefeated in Class 2A, Yuma and Swink, who are number one and two, and Wiggins just behind Meeker at number four. Not until October will any of the current undefeated teams get a chance to battle it out.
“We had hard fought matches this week,” said head coach Greg Cravens. “Vail Christian is a much better team then last year with better ball control and they created more offense.” Playing in Vail Friday, Sept. 7, Krissie Luce led the team in attacks with 11 of the 35 kills for the team in the three set match. “35 kills in a three set match is very good for our team,” said Cravens.
Saturday, Sept. 8 found the lady Cowboys finally on home turf.
“The match was a fight from the start,” commented Cravens. Vail Mountain, currently ranked 10th in Class 2A, in the same league as Meeker, could contend for one of the top spots. “It was good for us to see how we could do early in the season,” said Cravens. “Vail Mountain’s Sara Evans could be one of the best hitters we face this season. The improvement in her game from last year is quite impressive. She moved the ball around the court well and we had a hard time stopping her.”
Cowboy blocking led by Luce, Sydney Main, Caleigh Morlan and Julia Dinwiddie was much improved over previous games. Cravens was pleased with the progress the team is making, commenting, “We were able to block Evans a few times and also touched a lot of balls so that our defense could pick them up. Probably the biggest stat I see is we scored 16 points per set from our offense. In volleyball terms that means we are not depending on the other team to make errors for us to win the match.”
Averaging 14 points a match so far this year, getting to 16 on Saturday against a team in the top 10 is a good sign for the year. The Cowboys are looking to keep it up.
Hayden travels to Meeker Thursday, Sept. 13, with all three teams seeing action. It will be a busy weekend for the team as they then have overnight travel to Limon Friday, Sept. 14 and are in Rocky Ford Saturday, Sept. 15.
“This week will be a great state test for us going to Limon and Rocky Ford,” said Cravens. “It will be good to see how we fare east of the divide.”
By TIFFANY JEHOREK | Special to the Herald Times
