Freshman Morgan Herrera smacked five kills, and senior Alex Forsythe and junior Avionne Gomez each had three, but as Ignacio hit a collective -.052, errors outweighed successes against Telluride and ultimately brought the Volleycats’ season to an end at the 2A-District 3 Volleyball Tournament.
Hoping for a Day 2 win (plus a little help) to help them stay alive at the event, held Oct. 28-29 in Ridgway, even IHS’ potent service game seemed a little sluggish – 12 aces offset by 12 service errors – in the 9 a.m. Saturday struggle, and the Lady Miners were able to notch a 25-19, 25-11, 25-19 win.
Ignacio finished 7-14 overall in 2016, while THS followed up the morning triumph with a 3-0 sweep of Norwood – which defeated IHS 25-19, 17-25, 25-18, 25-18 the afternoon before – and finally a hard-fought 25-21, 26-24, 26-24 sweep of event-hosting RHS in the championship.
Now 14-8, Telluride were to host 2A-Region G action next on Saturday, Nov. 5, with District 3 third-placers NHS (11-11) and District 5 runners-up Kremmling West Grand (18-5) entering the MinerDome to vie for one berth into the Nov. 11-12 CHSAA Class 2A State Championships in Denver.
Second best in D-3, RHS (19-3) joined D-5 third-placers Meeker (16-7) in traveling to Region C – hosted by Western Slope League and D-5 champs Paonia (21-2) – to seek a State spot.
T-RIDE TOO TRICKY
Telluride’s own serving against Ignacio in the early-bird battle wasn’t all that eye-opening, either, and produced nine aces but also an offsetting nine errors. And in addition to Forsythe landing a match-best seven service-line gems, THS’ serve-reception skills were off and led to a reported 11 errors in that area.
But when the ball stayed in play after a restart, the Lady Miners made do.
Senior Brianna Brown bashed 13 kills against four errors for an efficient .281 percentage, while classmate Sammy Stenhammer downed seven at .250 and fellow senior Whitney Wells seven at a break-even .000 rate.
Brown’s dozen digs defensively gave her a double-double, and junior setter Sydney Evans also logged a double-double with 14 digs and 14 assists. Wells also reached double figures with her ten ups, while senior libero Abril Vasquez led all players with a vital 15.
Gomez came up with an IHS-best 12 digs and junior Allisianna Baker added ten, while freshman Makayla Howell recorded five and Forsythe – who had ten assists – four.
Strong defensively during her final prep-level contest, senior middle Kelly Campbell had two solo and five total blocks against Telluride. Also booking two solos, Herrera totaled three and Howell finished with one solo and one assisted stuff.