Vail Mountain volleyball beats Lyons, stays alive at state
James Mill | Special to the Daily
DENVER — The defending 2A state volleyball champions are done.
Vail Mountain School volleyball sent Lyons packing by a count of 20-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-20, 15-7, on Day 2 of the tournament on Friday, Nov. 9, at the Denver Coliseum.
With the win, the Gore Rangers (21-6) stayed alive in the double-elimination tournament and were scheduled to take on Limon late Friday night. (The 2A tourney was running roughly two hours behind, so VMS’ theoretical 6:30 p.m. start actually was at 8:30 p.m., finishing after the Vail Daily presstime.)
Lion sleeps tonight
With the Lyons Lions fans chanting, “Lions eat Rangers,” VMS fans, led by Jeanne Macsata, of course, responded chorally.
Support Local Journalism
“In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight,” sang Orange Nation a la The Tokens.
The refrain of “Wee-ooh wim-o-weh. Wee-ooh wim-o-weh,” was sung all the way down in Australia, where the Pesso family continues to watch the state tourney, despite the odd start times.
Setter Chloe Pesso and the Gore Rangers put the Lions to bed in a taut back-and-forth affair. Were VMS to win late Friday’s affair, it would take on Wiggins at roughly 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10, with a spot in the state semifinals on the line.
VMS’ win on Friday was the school’s first at state since 2001, when as a 1A squad the Gore Rangers advanced to the semis.
Looking around the bracket, the top seeds, Yuma and Denver Christian, have secured their sports in the Final Four. Denver Christian advanced by handing Meeker its first loss of the season, doubtless a heartbreaking development for the Gore Rangers and their fans. The Cowboys can still play their way into the semifinals by beating either Swink or Rye on Saturday morning. Round 3 of Cowboys-Gore Rangers can only occur in the finals on Saturday at 6 p.m., which would doubtless be fine by anyone in VMS orange.
Eight of Class 2A’s 14 matches as of Friday evening had gone five sets.
