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Devils spikers sweep Rifle

Nate Peterson

RIFLE – With three more matches looming in the next seven days, the Eagle Valley girls volleyball team took care of Rifle from the get-go Thursday night, winning in a three-game sweep.”It was definitely nice to end it in three,” senior setter Whitney Donohue said.In the first game the Devils rolled to a 25-13 win. The second game was the most competitive as Rifle got a little confidence and forced Eagle Valley to a tiebreaker at 26-26 before the Devils put the game away. The third game was all about finishing, as Eagle Valley used a bevy of hitters to confuse the Rams in a 25-20 win.”I don’t think they were in system most of the game,” Shreeve said. “We took them out of system because we were hitting deep shots and they couldn’t get to them and then we changed it up. We would hit long and short and they didn’t catch on.”Shreeve finished with 15 kills for the match to go with eight digs and seven aces. Donohue had three aces and 24 assists, Shannon Aragon had eight digs and Jessica Stiles finished with four aces. “We weren’t as sharp in the second game,” coach Karl Talcott said. “They were fired up and were able to keep it close with a combination of some fairly lucky, or scrappy plays. They hung in there and kept coming back at us. Ultimately, these girls stepped forward at the right time and were able to put the last two points away.”The Devils improved to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the 4A Slope.Eagle Valley plays next at Palisade this Saturday starting at 3 p.m.Softball drops Middle ParkMIDDLE PARK – The Eagle Valley softball team used a four-run first inning to bolt ahead of the Middle Park Panthers Thursday afternoon on its way to a 7-5 win. The victory atoned for two Middle Park wins over Eagle Valley last weekend in Gypsum at the Devils’ own tournament.Whitney Beasley, Shannon Buhler, Caitlyn Schmidt and Amy Strakbein were the Devils players to cross home plate in the top half of the first inning. The Panthers got one run in the first as well as two in the fifth, one in the sixth and another in the seventh, but were unable ever to grab the lead from Eagle Valley. The Devils other three runs came in the fifth and sixth innings. Beasley, Schmidt and Kayla Phillips all went 2-for-4 and Amy Strakbein finished up 1-for-3 at the plate with a triple.Schmidt also pitched a complete game for the win. “Overall, we played a good game,” coach Brad Stiles said. “We had a couple of walks and a couple of errors late in the game, but we stayed together long enough to pull out the win. Defensively for almost six innings, we were perfect.”With the win, Stiles’ team improved to 6-5 overallThe Devils play next against Montrose this Saturday at home at 11 a.m.


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