Tuesday was senior night for Cowboy volleyball and potentially the final home game of the year for this group of girls.
“I’m so proud of how the girls handle this rough week,” began head coach Greg Cravens. “We talk about how volleyball is a good escape from all the things in the world all the time. This week they took it to heart, and we had a pretty good week of practice.”
Meeker has a large group of seniors this year and Cravens considers himself “very fortunate to have them in the program”.
Vail Mountain does not have a great record but does have some good qualities and is a good team.
“We struggled in service receive,” said Cravens.
Vail Mountain was able to take set two, 25-23 and then able to hold on tight but unable to get it done, with the Cowboys taking the game three sets to one.
“As I do every year, the first set I make sure all the varsity seniors are on the court,” commented Cravens. “They all performed very well, and usually I put in our regular starters by the second rotation but this year they did so well I got to leave them in for the whole set. Their performance wasI was impressive and fun to watch.”
Friday in Olathe, the Cowboys were unable to come away with a win over a very good Olathe team.
The Cowboys lost in five sets. Three Cowboys topped the kill stats with 13 each, Ainsley Selle, Reese Clatterbaugh, and Rylee Sullivan. Ellie Hossack added four aces and Clatterbaugh and Cravens added three each.
“Emotions were high all week long and the toll it took on the girls at the end of the five set match was very apparent,” said Cravens.
The Pirates had a couple very good servers that stuck Meeker in a few rotations.
“It was good for us to be in a bad serve receive situation because we need to learn as a team who our finishers are,” commented Cravens. “We need to learn to be aggressive even in the tense moments of a match.”
Meeker is on to Buena Vista this weekend, playing four good teams, Rifle, Gunnison, Salida and Centauri. Centauri has beat the Cowboys the last three years.
“We look forward to playing all these teams, ” said Cravens.
The Cowboys are currently sitting 14th in the seeding and selection index. The top 12 teams host regionals and they will need wins this weekend to be able to host regionals.
BY TIFFANY JEHOREK
