Huskies spikers win opener against Coal Ridge
SILT — And for the first time in the four years Jason Fitzgerald has coached Battle Mountain volleyball, the Huskies won their season opener, taking down Coal Ridge, 25-19, 25-16, 25-20, on Tuesday night.
In fairness, it really helps not to open with Montrose every year. In fairness, part II, Coal Ridge did go to the 3A state tournament last year, so that’s a good win for Battle Mountain.
“We graduated five seniors, so it was good to see our offense be balanced tonight,” Fitzgerald said. “Coal Ridge has a good middle attack and good defense, so that was a nice win for us.”
Sofia Calabrese led the passing attack as the Huskies’ new outside hitter. Battle Mountain’s new libero anchored the defense. Not everything’s new in black and gold — Maddie Perkins, Mckenzie Ellison and Emily Clinton are back and pounded the ball down.
Battle Mountain is beefing up its schedule in 2014 after a quick exit during regionals last fall. One holdover from last season is Montrose. The Huskies are at the Indians, 4A state qualifiers last year, on Thursday.
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“We know we’re definitely going to be athletically challenged this year. Eagle Valley, Steamboat and Summit County all have some fantastic players,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re focused on being as honed in as a team as possible and not getting caught up in the superstar moment.”
EAGLE
Saints golf wins home tourney
It was home, sweet home for Vail Christian’s Tony Clark and the Saints.
Clark scored his first win of the season on Monday at Eagle Ranch with a 75, while the Saints won their home meet with 245 strokes.
While Cooper Gould has been capturing the headlines for winning two tournaments in a row two weeks ago, Clark has been wonderfully consistent all season for the Saints, and a victory on Monday was a just reward. Clark is 4-for-5 when it comes to shooting in the 70s, with the only exception being an 86 at Rifle last week.
Gould came around in 79, finishing second. The Saints’ three scorers were rounded out by Crane McGuckin (91).
Battle Mountain was second with 257 strokes. Tanner Crisofulli led the Huskies with an 84.
That score tied for third with Eagle Valley’s Tanner Caldarola.
The local golf teams head down to Montrose to play Cobble Creek on Thursday.
SILT
Eagle Valley soccer falls at Coal Ridge
Eagle Valley’s Aldo Palacios scored in the Devils’ 5-1 loss at Coal Ridge on Tuesday afternoon.
“In the first half, we were nervous,” Devils coach Bratzo Horruitiner said. “In the second half, they started to believe they could play.”
Eagle Valley has its home opener on Thursday against Grand Junction Central at 4 p.m. at Hot Stuff Stadium.
Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934, cfreud@vaildaily.com and @cfreud.
