MHS ready for regionals

MEEKER I The Meeker High School volleyball team is on its way to regionals after an outstanding performance at the district tournament last Friday and Saturday. The lady Cowboys went in as the No. 4 seed but had high expectations. Coach Atwood said, “We knew we were going to have to play well to advance.”
After a snowy drive to Kremmling Thursday, the girls got up Friday ready to hit the floor swinging. They began the tournament against West Grand, the team that had beat them in Kremmling just one week before. Meeker went in with a solid game plan and executed it well, isolating players on offense and stopping their hitters at the net.
“We have been talking this season about the aspect of team. This weekend and specifically this match, was a prime example of the dedication of each player to that commitment,” Coach Atwood said.
The Meeker girls limited mistakes and won the match in four sets 27-25, 24-26 and 25-17, 25-17.
The next opponent for the lady Cowboys were the scrappy players from South Routt County (Soroco). “The girls enjoyed the game”, Atwood said, and rightfully so. They finished the match in three, 25-15, 25-12, and 25-9.
The next match of the day was against the team’s nemesis, the Paonia Eagles. Meeker lost Paonia two times previously in the season but the district tournament proved to be the time to peak for the lady Cowboys.
“Team play and execution of the game plan was the only way were going to win the match,” Atwood said. They did just that, capitalizing on serving errors of Paonia and limiting their own errors. The match was well-fought to the very end. Meeker won the first and third set but Paonia won the second and fourth, leading to the fifth and final set that took extra point to decide. The lady Cowboys came out on top 16-14 for the match win. This win put the team against Rangely to begin the bracketed play for seeding going into the regional tournament.
Atwood said of the previous week’s loss to Rangely, “We didn’t play well as a group.” This week was entirely different as they didn’t let errors affect them negatively. They kept their composure and Atwood said “frustration turned to determination.” The girls came out on top of an extremely good match. The match showcased two teams fighting for their chance to advance to the regional tournament as it turned out. The match took five games to decide with the last game ending with the score of 17-15 in Meeker’s favor.
This win secured Meeker a spot in the regional tournament. The girls will travel to Telluride this weekend for a three team region, playing Ignacio and Telluride. The team with the best record will advance to the state tournament the following week. The lady Cowboys, led by a strong group of seniors, look to extend their season and continue their journey one more week, building on the momentum of an outstanding weekend.