RANGELY I It was the first couple of games in a while for the Panther White team. They struggled a little against the Rifle C Team, losing in two sets, dropping both sets 19-25. Laurie Ward and Jade Miller had good offensive games with five kills and seven kills respectively. New setter Audy Ryder did well moving the ball around and played strong defense.
The White team came out a little stronger when they traveled to Vail Christian to take on the Saints. Ryder came away with six assists, three aces and six digs. Bailey Tucker led the defense with 10 digs. Jade Miller was strong at the net with five kills and two blocks. The Panthers pulled off a win 2-0 (25-21, and 26-24).
The Panthers played three games last weekend. The first game was on Thursday, Oct. 21 at Rifle High School. The JV team beat the Rifle Bears in two sets, 25-16 and 25-2. The Panthers then traveled to Vail Christian on Oct. 22 and the JV team beat the Saints in three sets, 25-13, 19-25 and 15-11. On Oct. 23 the Panthers hosted Vail Mountain. The JV team won in two sets, 25-6 and 25-5. Stat leaders for all three games were: Karlee Halcomb with 20 aces, 19 digs and 41 assists; Miah Wren with three aces, 16 kills and 30 digs; Lexi LeBleu with eight aces, 12 kills and 11 digs; Emma Winder with four aces, seven kills and 13 digs; Kristiana Terry with four aces and 21 digs; and Emmeree Wagner with nine kills.
The Rangely Panthers traveled to Rifle to battle the Bears where they lost 3-2. Varsity dropped the first set 13-25, having issues finding a rhythm. They pulled back in the second 25-16 with Ashlynn Ducey serving nine of the 25 points. The Bears managed to edge out the Panthers 22-25 in the third. The Panthers evened out the set count in the fourth taking things to a fifth deciding. It was a hard-fought match on both sides, but the Panthers fell 16-18 in the fifth giving the win to Rifle 3-2. Freshman Kaitlyn Cox stepped up as starting setter and did a phenomenal job running a strong offense. She came away with 19 assists, four digs, three aces and four kills. Junior Kyrah Phelps also had a great game with 12 kills and 19 digs. Senior Aspen Low led the defensive front with 13 blocks followed by sophomore Annika Cantrell with five blocks. Senior Adelynn Halcomb once again had a great game with 34 digs.
On Friday, the Panthers looked at keeping the intensity up even after the tough loss the night before. The team struggled offensively, with passing being the biggest struggle, dropping to the Saints in three sets. Aspen Low had great net play with eight blocks defensively and six kills offensively. Kaitlyn Cox and Miah Wren led the team in aces with two apiece. Kyrah Phelps and Ashlynn Ducey added in offensively with four and three kills respectively. Adelynn Halcomb led with 30 digs on the match.
Saturday proved to be another five-set thriller for the Panthers as they took on Vail Mountain. This time, the Panthers came out on the winning side. The Panthers passing was much more effective with it showing offensively. Kyrah Phelps led the Panthers in kills with 12 with Aspen Low chipping in eight kills. Kaitlyn Cox led with three aces, with Adelynn Halcomb and Ashlynn Ducey adding two aces each. Defensively, the Panthers were led by Aspen Low with five blocks and Annika Cantrell with three. Adelynn Halcomb had another great digging game with 25 digs, and Kyrah Phelps adding in another 14 digs and Kaitlyn Cox with 13 digs.
Special to the Herald Times
