Rangely Panther volleyball take second at district tournament

RANGELY | Rangely volleyball traveled to Parachute for the district tournament last Friday and Saturday. Rangely went into the tournament as the No. 1 seed.
On Friday, Rangely played Hayden in their first pool play match up. Rangely played great and defeated Hayden in three sets: 25-16, 25-12 and 25-20. KK Fortunato led with 10 earned points, with Kassidee Brown and Sarah Connor contributing nine earned points each. Katelyn Brown led with 22 digs and Kassidee Brown added 15 digs. Katelyn Brown led with 11 kills, Sarah Connor added in seven kills, and Marlena Miller contributed another four kills.
Rangely’s second pool play match up was against Hotchkiss. Rangely needed the win to move on to day two of the district tournament and that they did. Rangely beat Hotchkiss in three: 25-14, 25-16, and 25-12. Rangely had a great serving game against Hotchkiss. Halie Elam had 18 earned points, Katelyn Brown chipped in 16 earned points and Kassidee Brown contributed another 12 earned points. Kassidee Brown moved the ball around to her hitters, Klaire Denny and Katelyn Brown both had six kills each, while Sarah Connor and KK Fortunato had four kills each. Very few balls hit the floor on defense. Katelyn Brown had 17 digs while Skylar Thacker added another 15 digs.
Rangely finished the first day of districts 2-0 and headed into the second day to face Paonia and Meeker to determine seeding for regionals.
Rangely met up with Paonia first on Saturday morning. Paonia was looking to come back, but Rangely played tough, getting the win in three: 25-18, 25-21 and 26-24. The match was a defensive game for the Panthers. Four players ended with double digits in digs, Katelyn Brown with 24, Kassidee Brown with 19, Skylar Thacker with 18 and Halie Elam added in another 16. Sarah Connor held tough at the net with five solo blocks and Marlena Miller with two solo blocks. Halie Elam led the team in earned points with 14 and Skylar Thacker added another 10 earned points. Offensively, Kassidee Brown moved the ball around effectively again. Sarah Connor led with 17 kills, Marlena Miller added nine kills and Katelyn Brown contributed eight kills.
Rangely headed into their last match of the day to determine first and second place against Meeker. This was the third time the two teams have met up this season. Rangely came out of the gate, taking the first set 25-20. Meeker answered back taking the second set. Rangely struggled to get the offense going in the third and fourth set and couldn’t get back on track. Meeker defeat Rangely in four: 25-20, 20-25, 14-25 and 12-25. Halie Elam led with seven earned points, Katelyn Brown added another six earned points and Sarah Connor added five earned points. Katelyn Brown ended the match with 23 digs, and Skylar Thacker added another 15 digs. Sarah Connor ended with 11 kills, with Marlena Miller added five kills.
Rangely ended their district weekend 3-1 for second place. They will travel to Dolores Nov. 4 to play in regionals against Dolores and Telluride. Games for the Panthers are at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Nov. 4.