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Devils finish regular season 16-3 with win over Roaring Fork

Nate Peterson

The Eagle Valley volleyball team wrapped up the regular season Friday in typical fashion, with a win, beating Roaring Fork in four games – 25-18, 25-22, 24-26, 25-22.

“Our team has a lot of heart, and it shows when we play,” said junior setter Whitney Donahue, who led the Devils with 38 assists. “Tonight, we got it done.”

The Devils have gotten it done the last three weeks, going undefeated since a Sept. 26 loss to Hotchkiss to finish 16-3 overall, and 7-1 in the 3A Western Slope. Now, they set their sights on districs next weekend in Grand Junction at Grand Junction Central High School. The top two teams from the eight team pool will advance to regionals.



“We’re excited, but we still know that we have to play tough, if we want to make it to regionals,” said senior captain Trista Sandoval. “We really have to buckle down.”

Against Roaring Fork, the Devils relied heavily upon their big gun, junior outside hitter Kenzie Shreeve, who finished with 27 kills, but they were also paced by the defensive efforts of Sandoval and junior Mariah Scott.

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Sandoval had six blocks and 13 digs, while Scott finished with five blocks and a team-high six aces.

The Devils won easily in the opening game but struggled a bit in the next three, making just enough plays to get past the Rams in the fourth game.

“Their hitters got better at putting the ball where we weren’t,” said Devils’ coach Karl Talcott. “We made some mistakes with passing that caught up with us down the stretch. We didn’t have as many kill opportunities as we usually do.”

In a tight fourth game, where every error was critical, Eagle Valley relied upon Scott’s precision serving to oust the Rams.

“Mariah had really good serving in the fourth game, and that got us on a run,” said Sandoval. “Their serving faltered a little bit, and we were able to take advantage.”

Added Scott, “We were down in the fourth game and I just said, “OK, I just have got to get them in.’ From there, Kenzie had some big hits and we just pulled it out. The key was making fewer mistakes than they did.”

Vail Christian sweeps Crested Butte

Vail Christian Volleyball coach Cathy Alexander was pleased that her team didn’t have a drop-off in intensity at Crested Butte on Friday, following last Tuesday’s big win over VMS.

The Saints made sure that the Titans remembered them, sweeping past Crested Butte in three games – 25-14, 25-12, 25-20 to improve to 7-2 in the 1A Mountain League, and 9-7 overall.

“We just played at our level,” said Alexander. “Even though their level wasn’t up to par, we just maintained our level. The win over VMS gave us the confidence to go out and take care of business on the volleyball court.”

The Saints sweep was keyed by the serving of sophomore outside hitter Bradie Beagley, who finished with four aces on the night. Middle hitters Rachel Glandorf and Brooke Horan-Kates also had big nights for Vail Christian keeping the Titans off balance both defensively and offensively.

“Beagley served some extremely good serves,”said Alexander. “We just had real consistent serving, and real consistent passing.”

The Saints travel to Debeque today for their most crucial game of the season. If Vail Christian should win, they finish in a three-way tie for first place with DeBeque and Vail Mountain.

Roaring Forks tops Devils

Eagle Valley football fell 48-12 to Roaring Fork friday in a battle for first place in the 2A Western Slope.

The Devils dropped to 6-2 overall, 5-1 in league play. Eagle Valley closes out the regular season next week when they host Aspen.

Nate Peterson is a sports writer for the Vail Daily. He can be reached at (970) 949-0555, ext. 608 or via npeterson@vaildaily.com.


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