Vail Christian and North Fork go down to the wire on senior night
The Saints improved to 12-0 in league-play with the win
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily
Perhaps Vail Christian’s plan was to stretch out senior night for as long as it could. The No. 12-ranked Saints improved to 12-0 in league-play on Tuesday night, but they needed all five sets to do it against a pesky North Fork squad, which played better than the 8-12 overall record they walked onto Coach Alexander court with.
“We talked about how we needed to ignore the record; they’re a very well-coached team,” Saints head coach Britney Branson said after the Saints 12-25, 25-21, 25-20, 16-25, 15-12 win over the Miners, who came into the game with a 6-6 league mark.
“I truly anticipated them being that good and that hard (to beat).”
The Miners came out on fire in the first. Appropriately, senior program stalwarts Logan Nobrega, Jessie Allen and Hannah Leonard helped the Saints get back on track in the second. Nobrega served the team into a 15-10 lead and Leonard connected on two straight kills to make it 19-14.
“They’re our momentum-builders,” Branson said of the middle hitters.
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Allen kept more than a few volleys alive with some diving digs, and Maggie Rothenberg’s even-keel demeanor kept the team calm.
“She’s just calm, reliable and consistent,” Branson said of Rothenberg. “We have a good senior class that’s strong. They’re a huge part of our team.”
On the other end of the spectrum, the freshmen stepped up as well. Defensive specialist Sam Bates and outside hitter Mary McClarrinon in particular.
“She was huge back there,” Branson said of Bates. “She really saved us. I think she was one of the keys to our win tonight.”
The high-flying McClarrinon, who has been one of the team’s most prolific offensive weapons all season, came alive in the third, tallying four kills and shaking the Miners’ side of the court with a few additional blasts that didn’t make it into the official statbook.
Even though Vail Christian closed it out 25-21 to tie things at 1-1, North Fork’s rally was a precursor to the back-and forth third. The Saints jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but didn’t regain an advantage until going up 19-18 late.
Back-to-back kills by Leonard and Nobrega made things 21-19 and forced the Miners into a timeout as the game’s most significant turning point hung in the balance. Nobrega then served the Saints into a 24-20 advantage before the team finished things off.
North Fork didn’t wilt, however, sprinting out to an 18-11 lead in the fourth en route to a convincing 25-16 win. The Miners then scored the first four points in the decisive fifth. Nobrega served her team to four straight points of their own as the ladies in pink started to gain confidence. Branson said eliminating errors was the key.
“When it’s deep rallies, we can’t be the one that errors,” she said of the message in the huddle when it was 4-0. “We had a lot of ups and downs within ourself. We had a lot of talks of being positive with each other and with ourselves. That was kind of more the focus — relax, we’re fine, it’s only four points. We have to dig deep.”
Grace Armstrong’s kill gave the Saints their first lead of the set, 6-5. On the next volley, she stuffed a potential Miner kill, which led to a big spike by Nobrega and a timeout for the visitors. North Fork hit the next shot out of bounds, giving the Saints a three-point advantage. Vail Christian pushed the score to 13-9, but the Miners once again clawed back, earning three-straight points of their own before Branson called for time. With the score 14-13, Allen wisely let an errant Miner serve go behind her and out of bounds, and all was right with the world.
Vail Christian finishes the regular season with games at Rangely on Friday and at home against Cedaredge on Saturday. Branson knows neither game will be easy and both are critical to securing a top-12 regional hosting slot.
“We have a big game on Friday,” she said. “Rangely has some big hitters, they have a big bench. This week is huge.”
