STEFANIE ALLISON, a junior at MCHS, prepares to slam in a kill Saturday during the District VII volleyball tournament. Senior Colette Hall (left) and sophomore Sasha Yarbrough watch. The Panthers took top honors at the tourney for the third straight year.

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

The Panthers showed many Class 4A teams along the Western Slope their lofty no. 2 ranking is well deserved. Montezuma-Cortez High School breezed to the District VII Volleyball Tournament title by defeating all the teams they faced in two games, most of those by lopsided scores. MCHS has now won the district title three consecutive years.

"The girls played very well the whole weekend," said MCHS head coach Lindy Mortensen after watching her team win a third straight District VII title. "These kids never want to miss practice. They don’t play around on Saturday night. They are willing to work hard over the off-season and now it is all paying off. They deserve it."

No. 2 ranked Cortez, 23-1, will now advance to the Regional Tournament in Pueblo this Friday and Saturday, Nov. 2-3, at Pueblo West High School. Montezuma-Cortez (23-1) is in the Class 4A Region D tournament at Pueblo West (22-1) along with Summit County (20-2) and Cheyenne Mountain (15-9).

A tourney title or a second--place showing there will send the Panthers on to the State Volleyball Championships Nov. 9-10 in the Denver Coliseum. MCHS has won a Regional title the last two years in ago. The Panthers finished tied for third in 1999 and was a qualifier at State last season.

CASEY BAUER (10) of Montezuma-Cortez High School goes up for a kill against Steamboat Springs on Saturday evening in the championship game of the District VII Volleyball Tournament in Ron Wright Memorial Gym. Watching her are teammates Colette Hall (11) and Emily Harclerode (6). The Panthers won the title for the third straight year and will play at Regionals in Pueblo this weekend.

District VII second place Steamboat Springs (20-4) will play in the Region C tournament at Mullen (14-8). Alamosa and Mountain View (17-6) are the other two teams in the field. No. 3 seed Glenwood Springs (17-5) is at Conifer (18-5), along with Lewis-Palmer (22-2) and Valley (19-4).

Meanwhile in Class 2A at the District III Tournament, second-seeded Telluride and top-seeded Dolores will be making the trip to Regionals. North Park (16-3), Dolores (20-3), Grand Valley (15-7) and Telluride (19-2) play in the Class 2A Region C tournament Saturday, Nov. 3, at Palisade High School.

The Panthers took on Steamboat Springs, a state qualifier a year ago, in the championship game Saturday evening played in Ron Wright Memorial Gym. MCHS won 15-8, 15-3.

With Cortez holding a 2-1 lead, the Panthers scored four straight points behind the serving of Sasha Yarbrough to take a 6-1 advantage in the opening game of the match. The Sailors closed the gap to 4-6 but scored three in a row thanks to a pair of tips by Casey Bauer. The Sailors came back to pull within 7-9 off a couple unforced errors by Cortez. With MCHS leading 11-8, Stefanie Allison served for the next four points for the win. Bauer had a pair of kills during that run.

Cortez went quickly out front 3-0 on a kill by Bauer and another by Lindsey Wilson coupled with a mistake by Steamboat. The Sailors cut the lead to 2-4 and then MCHS dominated. With Merina Lippis serving, the Panthers moved out to a commanding 11-2 lead. Allison made three points with push hits. She also made a down-the-line spike and Colette Hall made a kill. But Steamboat would not go down quietly. The Panthers had a to fight for every points. Cortez increased its lead to 14-2. A ball hit into the net by Steamboat ended the game and match.

MCHS took on Glenwood Springs in the semifinals earlier in the afternoon and won in straight games 15-3, 15-12.

In the first game, Hall served for five points in a row. The Demons made many mistakes including a two double hits, a bad set, a ball hit wide. The Panthers increased their lead to 11-0. Allison made a push, a block, and a cross-court spike for points. The Demons finally got on the board after MCHS hit the ball four times. After Glenwood Springs added another point, the Panthers made the final four points for the win. Hall put the finishing touches with a big kill for the final point.

The Panthers jumped out to a 7-4 lead early in the second game. The Panthers watched their lead evaporate, though, as the Demons came back and pulled within one at 8-9. Alicia Hays made a kill and Angela Christner made a tap. After regrouping, the Panthers went up 12-8. Lindsey Wilson made a nice block for a point. Glenwood Springs closed in following a couple mistakes by MCHS. Soon, MCHS held a slim 13-12 lead at which point Mortensen called time-out. The Panthers got the message and scored the next two points for the win.

"Playing in our league (Southwestern) against mostly 5A teams helped us for this tournament," Mortensen remarked after the hard-fought win by her girls. "We had good competition and that helped us. Steamboat Springs is well-coached and has a good team. It was a long, two-game match. Our kids had to block well and not make mistakes. They came up with some nice plays."

Host Cortez opened up Pool B play Friday afternoon.

Their first game was against Rifle. The Panthers won 15-0, 15-8.

It took only two servers — Allison and Hall — to put the Bears away in that opening game. Allison scored for the first three. Bauer made a cross-court kill and Allison an ace. Following a sideout, Hall stepped up to the service line and closed the Bears out. Bauer made six kills during that span.

Cortez moved out to a 7-0 lead early in the second game thanks to many, many errors by the Bears. The Panthers increased their lead to 10-2 with Emily Harclerode serving. Bauer made three kills and Allison one, that point coming when she was standing in the backcourt. Followin two net balls, the Panthers led 12-2. Rifle, behind the serving of Krista Wagstrom, charged back to pull within 7-12. Pam Schieldt made a slam and Torri Johnson a block. The teams traded several sideouts before Rifle added another point. The Panthers, though, made a rally and won. Allison made an ace for the final point.

"It was nice to get that first match win," Mortensen after it was over. "We got the jitters out of the way."

Later that evening, MCHS took on Delta and won 15-9, 15-0. Cortez got off to a slow start in the first game. They made a few mistakes it shouldn’t have made, the Panthers but rebounded and quickly took control. Mortensen reported the team got into a little rotation rut. In the second game, the Panthers completely domianted play.

In the final Pool B game which was played early Saturday morning, Cortez took on Steamboat Springs and won 15-11, 15-7. This was a hard-fought game. Cortez scored the first two points quickly but then the teams traded sideouts six times before the Sailors managed a point, off a kill by Hannah Gary. Steamboat pulled ahead 3-4 a few minutes later when it capitalized on MCHS hitting mistakes. The teams traded sideouts for five times before Steamboat scored again to lead 3-5. With Lippis serving, the Panthers took a 6-5 lead, one of those points was an ace. But Steamboat came back strong to lead 6-9 at which time Mortensen called time. Cortez rallied. Consecutive kills by Bauer put MCHS on top 10-9. The game was tied at 10-all and 11-11. Cortez scored the final four points for the win, those coming off Steamboat mistakes.

Again in the second game, the teams battled hard. Cortez took an early 3-0 lead after many sideouts. Behind the serving of Yarbrough, the Panthers moved out to a 7-2 advantage. Allison made a kill and a push for points and Yarbrough made an ace. The teams continued to hit hard and had several more sideout exchanges. A block by Wilson put Cortez up 9-3. The Panthers increased their lead to 11-4, one of those was an ace by Bauer. MCHS increased its lead to 14-5 but SSHS came back with a tip by Allison Griffing and a miscue by Cortez. A wide hit handed MCHS the game and match win.

In other Pool B games, Steamboat beat Delta 15-4, 15-5 and it dropped Rifle 15-5, 15-2. Delta defeated Rifle 16-14, 9-15, 15-6. In Pool A games at Cortez Middle School, Palisade defeated Montrose 15-15, 15-13; Glenwood Springs stopped Moffat County 15-9, 15-11; Palisade beat Moffat County 15-7, 15-7; Glenwood Springs defeated Montrose 15-13, 15-7; Montrose won a long game 15-12, 12-15, 15-4 over Moffat County; and Glenwood Springs beat Palisade in another marathon game 8-15, 15-8, 15-8.

At the District III Tournament in Telluride, Dolores won the title and top-seed to this week’s Regionals.

Dolores took on Mancos and lost in the first game 11-15, but came back to win 15-4, 15-8. The Bears then beat Nucla 15-4, but struggled in the second game and came away with a 15-12 win. The Bears then faced San Juan Basin League regular-season champ and previously undefeated Telluride. The Bears shocked the Miners by winning 9-15, 15-6, 15-5.

After losing to Dolores, the Blue Jays lost 8-15, 5-15 to Telluride. Playing nothing more than for pride, they outlasted Nucla 17-15 in the first game and came back to win easily 15-4 in the second game.