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Vail Valley preps recap for Tuesday

Chris Freud

GRAND JUNCTION – Much better.

After a difficult season-opening loss against Montrose, 4A Battle Mountain volleyball showed it could hang with 5A Grand Junction Central in a 25-13, 25-19, 29-31, 25-22 loss to the Warriors.

“Overall, it was a really good match,” Huskies coach Lara Bossow said. “I know they can play hard. I know they want to play hard. It’s just a matter of executing. They did that in Games 2, 3 and 4.”



In Game 2, the Huskies got their attack going. Noting a a six-point improvement from the first game, Bossow told her team quickly before the third game that six more points would give them a win and put the Huskies back in the match.

It started with defense as libero Molly Childers was sensational in back digging out shot after shot. Krista Norris and Larose Currie put them down with efficiency. For the statistically-inclined, Norris had 31 kills.

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Cayla Bluhm rallied the Huskies from a deficit to tie the game at 23. The Huskies and Warriors kept going well past 25 with Battle Mountain earning a 31-29 victory.

The Huskies kept with Central in the fourth tied at 18, until Childers went down for a dig and hit her head on the court. As a precaution, the Huskies understandably took her out of the game, yet still kept it tight in a 25-22 loss.

“It was great to see the girls play hard,” Bossow said. “Aggressive is one word I’d use to describe them. Grand Junction did a good job with our tips, so we stopped tipping and swung away. That got (Grand Junction) in trouble.”

Battle Mountain (0-2) hopes to keep the momentum going Thursday in another non-Slope tilt at Summit County.

Soccer

Eagle Valley 1, Middle Park 1

GRANBY – Much better, part II.

After a rough opener against Coal Ridge, Eagle Valley soccer picked up its first point of the season with a 1-1 tie at Middle Park Tuesday.

Nestor Escobar put the Devils on the board in the first half with a beautiful run, cutting along the end line and finding the perfect spot for Eagle Valley’s first tally of the young season.

The Panthers scored late in the second half on a free kick.

“We found out that we have all the tools,” Devils coach Jason Ritmiller said. “All in all, we’d rather have a different result. But we know what we need work on in the future.”

Eagle Valley (0-1-1) is at Grand Junction Central Saturday.

Volleyball

VMS hosts Steamboat tonight

EAST VAIL – OK, if it’s Wednesday, it must be Steamboat Springs.

Class 2A Vail Mountain volleyball needed to fill out its schedule and so did the 4A Sailors, so the Gore Rangers will have an opportunity to host of the Slope’s big bigger schools tonight at 6.

“It’s a great situation for us to play a 4A opponent like that, a team that is traditionally in the top half of their league year after year,” VMS coach Mike Garvey said. “We’re excited about that opportunity. We have a team that can play irrelevant of wins and losses, and judge their own performance.”

VMS started the season with a 1-2 mark at last weekend’s tournament at Plateau Valley. The Gore Rangers fell to Norwood and Palisade’s JV, but notched a 3-2 victory against the host Cowboys.

“It’s consistency, all the way around,” Garvey said. “In every phase of the game, we can see what our potential is. We can see we can do all the different things we’re asking our players to do. It’s just a matter of them doing it every time to the best of their ability. The good thing about that is that is going to come.”

Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 or cfreud@vaildaily.com.


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