Eagle Valley spikers down Rifle in three on the road

RIFLE — After nearly coughing up a 23-15 lead and barely escaping the second game with a win, Rob Crawford and his Eagle Valley volleyball team appeared dead set on getting home as quickly as possible.

His Devils did just that, easily winning the third en route to a 25-17, 26-24, 25-10 sweep at Rifle on Thursday.

“Yeah, it was a let-up (in the second game),” Crawford said of the lull that was the middle game. “Once we made a few errors, we started getting tense, like our old self. When we get tense, we’re doomed.”

But Whitney VanVoorst and the Devils shook the shaky play, put a halt to the barrage of attack errors that let the host Bears back in the game and finished off the runaway win.

VanVoorst finished with 12 assists and eight kills to help her team to a 2-4 Class 4A Western Slope League record and 5-6 overall mark. Ryanne Wilson finished with six kills, followed by Whitney Wright with five and Ashley Rohweder with four. Shelby Wright chipped in with 11 assists.

All remedied — at least temporarily — a tough early league season for the Devils.

“The last couple of matches have been hard,” VanVoorst said. “We haven’t had any confidence in ourselves. Today went well. We’re learning how to play to win instead of playing scared.”

League wins have been tough to come by for both squads taking to the Rifle court. The Bears, who didn’t win a Slpe game all last year, have yet to do so this season at 0-6.

Sandy Samson and Brianna Bascom slammed three kills apiece for Rifle, which travels to Battle Mountain on Saturday. Eagle Valley will host Glenwood Springs.