RANGELY I The Middle School Volleyball Tournament held in Craig last Saturday finished off the season for the four area schools. This year, Rangely proved to have the best combination of teams, winning the eighth grade A and B tournaments and placing second in the seventh grade A. Meeker won the seventh grade B tournament.
The tournament consists of four 4-team brackets, seeded according to how they did in the regular season.
Rangely’s eighth grade A team went into the tournament seeded fourth, pitted against first place Steamboat in the first round. The girls lost their first game 22-25.
“We came out of game two ready to go and fight for every point. We won game two 25-20,” said coach Jimmie Mergleman. The team continued playing well and won game three 15-10. This was a big win for the Panthers, giving Steamboat their first loss of the season. Rangely moved on to face Meeker, who beat them just a week ago. The Panthers came out strong and won the first game 25-9. They finished the match winning the second game 25-16. This win put the team in the finals, facing Craig in their next match. Mergleman was worried about the game. “We had been sitting for four hours,” she said.
They lost their first match against Craig, but thanks to the tournament format, they would play another match to determine the tournament champions. Going into the last match, Mergelman said, “We came back together and believed in each other and what they had been doing earlier in the day in order to win.”
The Panthers lost game one of the match but came back to win game two 25-20 and finish the match with a game three score of 15-7. The eighth grade A team included Justyne Dembowski, Carrie Goddard, Alexi Cordrey, Courtney Bell, Kayte Allred, Lindzey Thacker and Antoinette Doriss.
The eighth grade B team had an outstanding tournament as well, starting their day against Meeker. They won a close first game 26-24, then lost game two 20-25. They rallied back to win game three 15-5. This win set them up for the finals of the tournament against Craig. They lost game one 18-25 and had to fight hard in game two, winning in extra points 27-25. They used that momentum for a 15-9 match-winning third game. The eighth grade B team included Christina Gliem, Alycia Dominguez, Courtney Bell, Braylee Casavaugh, Bridget Mays, Adriana Lopez, Casey Meeks, Savanah Neilsen, Alexis Lopez and coach Tina Miller.
The teams did an outstanding job in the tournament as the seventh grade A team also finished second.
The middle school girls’ season proved to be a success for both ends of the county.
