Oct. 5, 2000

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

Although the Dolores County High School varsity volleyball team is struggling, the team played a pretty good match against larger Bayfield squad Tuesday night, Oct. 3, in Bulldog Gym. Class AA DCHS lost the nonconference match 6-15, 14-16 against the Class AAA Wolverines.

In the first game with the score tied 2-2, the Bulldogs took a brief 3-2 lead when a Wolverine was caught in the net. Bayfield pulled ahead 3-4. After an exchange of sideouts, Bayfield’s Amy Guy served a pair of aces and Nikki Walker made a torpedo hit for a 3-8 lead. Melinda Fury made the game close at 5-9 with a pair of nice serves. Bayfield continued to slowly pull away. They went up 5-12 when first-year DCHS head coach Scott Crawford called time out. An ace by Sarah Sanchez and two by Walker salted the game away.

However, things were much different in the second contest. Dove Creek moved out to an early 4-2 lead, the last point an ace by Erin Fury. But the Wolverines made a run and soon went up 4-7. However, behind the serving of Melinda Fury, the Bulldogs went on a run. Shandra Johnson made a nice cross-court kill and then made a tip. The score was tied at 7-all. Bayfield moved up 7-11. But Dove Creek came back with a pair of ace serves by Stefanie Buffington. DCHS scored two of the next three points on the board and pulled within one at 11-12. Krystal Neely scored an ace for a tie game at 12. The Wolverines scored and Crawford called time. His team responded with a pair of points to pull ahead 14-13. The score was tied again at 14 and then Bayfield scored the final two points on a pair of hitting mistakes.

"I’m just happy they battled as well as the did," Crawford commented after the match. "After the first game, they could have folded up tent and gone home. But they came back and played perhaps the best game they have played all season. That was about as good of a game as we have played all year. Most of our mistakes were hitting errors which are aggressive mistakes."

The Bulldogs played Grand County (Moab, Utah) at home last Friday, Sept. 29, and lost 15-13, 5-15, and 11-15. That was the first time a DCHS match had gone three games.

Setter Tia Wood had a good night with six assists and Neely made eight kills. As a group, the team recorded seven aces with four by Neely and Johnson three.

"We had our hands on eight blocks but we only finished with two. It would have been nice if we could have made those," he said.

In the first game, the Bulldogs battled from way back to win the game. They got down early in the second game and could never quite recover. The third game went back and forth. They fought off four match points before the Red Devils finally prevailed.

"We weren’t happy afterwards, but it was fun. It was a good learning experience for those girls," Crawford added.

The Bulldogs return to San Juan League play this Friday, Oct. 6, by hosting Dolores beginning at 6 p.m. They host Telluride at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 7.

Montezuma-Cortez High School’s no. 2 ranked volleyball team remained unbeaten in Southwest League play with a sweep of both the Grand Junction High Schools last weekend, Sept. 29-30.

The Panthers stopped Central of Grand Junction 15-10, 15-7 on Sept. 29.

They found themselves in an unusual position, being way behind. They were down 0-8 before they started playing the volleyball more accustomed to that of a ranked team.

"We started out slow," MCHS head coach Lindy Mortensen said. "We had trouble with serve-receive so our passing wasn’t good. We had a lot of serve-receive errors. The girls all of a sudden decided they had better turn things around. And they did and it turned out to be a pretty good match."

The second game went back and forth, according to Mortensen. But the girls always seemed in control, she commented.

In that match, Casey Bauer and Stefanie Allison combined for 22 kills. Denise Newlin also had four spikes and she had 10 digs on the defensive side. Emilie Lanier, who took over setting chores this season, was very consistent with 22 assists.

Grand Junction High School lost its volleyball match against Cortez in two matches on Saturday morning, Sept. 30. The Panthers won 15-4, 15-7.

Grand Junction got good news when it welcomed the return of middle hitter Leah Jappe, who had been sidelined with a blood clot in her lung. But despite her return she only played sparingly and Jappe was still was not enough to stop the talented Panthers.

The Tigers struggled early against the Panthers' taller outside hitters, Bauer and Allison. The score was knotted at 2-2 before Cortez ran off 11 consecutive points.

A kill from Bauer gave Cortez game point, and a serve receive error by the Tigers sealed the opening victory for the Panthers.

Cortez built a 9-4 advantage in the second game before the Tigers pulled closer on service aces by Melissa Jessup and Kelleen Stephens. But Allison's block on match point ended the game.

"We came back and played really well against Grand Junction High," Mortensen remarked.

Bauer finished with 13 kills and Allison had five. Middle blocker Andrea Derrick made four kills.

The Panthers will host Fruita-Monument at 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, and then host Montrose at noon Saturday, Oct. 7, in Ron Wright Memorial Gym. The earlier start time on Friday is because of Homecoming activities. The game on Friday also is Youth Volleyball and Cortez Middle School Recognition Day. If they wear their jerseys or give their name at the door, the players will be admitted free.

It was a weekend of mixed results for the Mancos High School varsity volleyball team. The good news was they won the match they really needed to win, a 15-5, 13-15, 15-10 win over Nucla in Class AA San Juan League action Sept. 29, in the Mancos Performance Center.

The bad news, and it really wasn’t all that bad of news, was a four-game loss to nonconference Piedra Vista 13-15, 15-5, 11-15, 9-15 at Farmington on Sept. 30.

"I was very happy with our play against Nucla," Mona Shepherd said. "I thought the girls hit very well. That was the game we really needed to win and we did. Against, Piedra Vista I was not upset that we lost because we got beat by a school much larger than we are. We got to put in a lot of players."

Against Nucla, the Blue Jays jumped out to a 4-1 lead thanks to kills by Katie Paxton and Katie Rosso. Nucla pulled within one at 5-4 but the Jays increased the lead to 8-4. Angela Hall, getting in some varsity playing time, served two straight times and helped the Jays out to a 10-5 lead. Paxton took over serving following an exchanged of sideouts. The Jays scored the remaining points. Cassie Coppinger made a nice tip for a point and Paxton served an ace during the stretch run.

The second game was much closer. Nucla jumped out to a 1-3 lead. Mancos tied the score at 3-3 but the Mustangs pulled ahead 3-6 thanks to mistakes by the Jays. The score was tied at 6-6. Mancos went ahead 7-6 when a Nucla player went into the net. The score was knotted again at 8-8 and 9-9. Nucla went up 9-11 on a kill by Kimberlee Hall. With Nucla up 9-12, the Blue Jays scored the next four straight to pull ahead 13-12, thanks to an ace by Hall, and two kills by Paxton. The score was tied again at 13-all. Shelane Whren served up two aces in a row for the winning points.

That forced a third and final game. Mancos took control quickly by moving out to a 4-1 lead. Nucla cut the difference to 5-3 and tied the score at 5-5. With Hall serving, she made a pair of aces and helped her team to a more comfortable 10-5 lead. Following a Nucla time, the Mustangs responded with a point but Mancos came back with two. Nucla trimmed the lead to 12-8. The Jays went up 14-8, thanks to a kill by Jori Yeomans. The Mustangs scored a couple more points and then the cooked their own hide with a carry.

The girls traveled to Farmington for a game against Piedra Vista High School. They play best-of-five games in New Mexico. It was a good chance for Shepherd to re-evaluate some of her players and to give some of the younger ones playing time.

"I thought we looked tired after the match," Shepherd said. "We played hard the night before and then went four games (which took more than two hours to play) on Saturday. I wish we really could have played this match a little earlier in the season."

She played Lacey Morris and Cassie Coppinger at setter to give them another evaluatoin. She said she was pleased with the play of Paxton, Rosso, Yeomans, and Hall.

The Jays host Bayfield for a nonconference game at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, in the Mancos Performance Center. They visit Dolores on Oct. 10.

Dolores, which lost so many seniors to graduation last May, is coming right along. The Bears, who advanced all the way to the Class AA State Volleyball Tournament in Denver last November, could be headed back in that direction. They whipped Norwood 15-3, 15-10 last Friday night.

"We even played without our two seniors (Amber Simmons who was out with an injury and Rachel Ragland who was out-of-town)," DHS head coach Joye McHenry said. "I thought the girls played great. We served well, we made great hits, and we played good defense. They just played a good match."

Tracy Everett did a good job hitting in the first game and Kristin Gustafson made eight service points in a row which put the Mavericks out of business.

In the second game, McHenry shifted offenses to a 5-1 and moved Amanda Cross to the outside. She did a good job there. Everett did a good job setting and hitting as well. Ashley Smith also played well.

The Bears were scheduled to play Farmington JV Monday night but that game was cancelled. They rescheduled Aztec, N.M., varsity for a nonconference match beginning about 6 p.m. today in DHS Gym. The Bears will host the Blue Jays on Tuesday, Oct. 10.

Copyright © 2000 the Cortez Journal. All rights reserved.
Write the Editor
Home News Sports Business Obituaries Opinion Classified Ads Subscriptions Links About Us