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Vail Mountain spikers outlast Vail Christian

Vail Mountain School's Holly Parker sended the ball over the net against Vail Christian. VMS beat Vail Christian in five games, its first win over its county rivals in four years.
Chris Dillmann | cdillmann@vaildaily.com |

EDWARDS — Oct. 9, 2012.

It had been quite a while for the Vail Mountain School volleyball team when it came to beating Vail Christian.

The Gore Rangers ended the drought with a 16-25, 25-16, 25-19, 17-25, 15-9 victory over the Saints on Thursday night at the Wheeler Athletic Center in Edwards.



“We hadn’t beaten them. I wanted this so bad,” VMS senior Holly Parker said. “To be able to pull it off feels so good.”

Parker seemed more enthusiastic after this win than assorted soccer games in the spring, which is saying something. She’s back-stopped two state titles as VMS’ goalie.

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“I think it was really great,” VMS coach Whitney Armistead said. “I don’t think we should have let it go to five. We had a couple of lulls in there. We’re a really mentally strong team this year, so they’ve been approaching all these deficits as a challenge.”

VMS (6-2 both overall and in the 3A Slope) was lost the first set, seemed to have the match under control at 2-1, but ended up in the fifth game.

And, in the fifth, the Gore Rangers got rolling. Alyssa Hilb and Chloe Pesso both had runs from behind the serving line. Junior Sarah Evans had a magnificent back-row hit to give VMS an 8-3 lead.

“You just know when you get the perfect set, it’s just going down,” said Evans, who pounded the ball all night.

VMS continued surging ahead with its fan section, yelling boisterously.

“It’s really fun to have fans,” Parker said. “Especially when you get to the fifth game, and you’re energy’s a bit low. They’re behind you.”

The stormed the court when Ana Holguin made the final block for the 15th point.

For Vail Christian (4-4, 4-3), it was the Saints’ second loss of the season in five sets. The Saints struggled a big in the fifth with four serving errors and other mis-hits. This is an important time to remember that Vail Christian is a young team.

“It’s so much about keeping calm under pressure and taking your excitement and controlling it,” Saints coach Sara Carlton. “All we can do and is take it and learn from it. I was proud of the way they played. They fought.”

VMS hosts North Park on Saturday, while Vail Christian is at Plateau Valley.

Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934, cfreud@vaildaily.com and @cfreud.


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