The Eagle Valley High School women’s volleyball team extended its undefeated record in 4A Western Slope league to 10-0 after securing a home court win against local rival Battle Mountain High School on Tuesday night. The Devils are now 14-6 overall and have secured the league championship with season to spare.

Tuesday’s game was the second time the two Eagle County teams met this season, and though the Huskies came in as the underdogs they gave the Devil’s a serious run for their money. Battle Mountain started out on top with a decisive 25-19 win in the first set, after maintaining a healthy lead for the majority of play time.

The second set started with the intensity of a fifth set, with long, drawn-out rallies battled out for every point. The Huskies took a dominant lead early on, going up 6-2 as the Devils struggled to string together effective returns during the competitive rallies.

Every time Eagle Valley would begin to claw back, the Huskies would pull away again, stretching their lead to 19-12 and never giving up enough ground to cause a real threat to the set. But right as everything seemed to be going the Huskies’ way, a few key plays up at the net for the Devils turned the tides, starting a six-point run broken only by one miss-hit serve that brought them within just two points at 20-18.

Small mistakes from the Huskies late in the set added up, with out-of-bounds serves and returns opening the door for Eagle Valley to tie the set for the first time at 22-22. Point for point play brought the game 23-23, before a block at the net handed Eagle Valley the game point opportunity, which they clinched with a spike.

Set three was controlled by Eagle Valley from start to finish, defined by an unbroken eight-point run that the team rode to an easy 25-14 win. Now down to the wire, the fourth set of the game was another hard fought battle from both sides that came down to the final points.

The Huskies once again held the lead throughout most of the set, going on a seven-point run of their own to create a 20-13 gap between them and their opponents. It looked like they were going to give the Devils a taste of their own medicine from the third set, but the Devils never let up.

The home team managed to do the seemingly impossible: surviving two game point opportunities for the Huskies, closing a seven-point deficit to tie the set for the first time at 24-24 and forcing the two-point win 26-24 to secure the match.

Coach Mike Garvey said that his team has come from behind in many sets this season, and that they know how to push forward when feeling the pressure.

“They took the first set from us, and those are opportunities when you go, ‘OK, we’re going to be challenged’,” Garvey said. “We’ve been on the top of the league, and we’re that team right now that everyone wants to beat to make their season. We’re taking everybody’s best shot right now.”

With a decisive league championship already accomplished, he said that all eyes are on the post-season and making sure the team keeps focus through the final games.

“The challenge was we clinched the league two games ago — everyone else was 4-4 and so they couldn’t reach us — and we have to make sure we don’t let our guard down,” Garvey said. “”We’re looking at the post-season. League doesn’t do anything for you — it’s a pat on the back, and yeah you’re the league champions, but we want more than that.”

Eagle Valley took down Rifle 67-53 Tuesday, a senior night victory which moved them to 17-5 on the season, setting up a pivotal date with league-leading Steamboat Springs on Thursday. Claiming the conference crown was a goal from the beginning for Justin Brandt and company.

“Our number one goal this season was to win conference. We’ve given ourselves a chance to win it, which is great,” Brandt said.

If the Devils take care of business on the road, they will either share the league title with Palisade, provided the Bulldogs win their final game against red-hot Glenwood Springs, or have sole possession of the honor, something they haven’t done since 2012.

“These kids’ hard work has given them great opportunities to do something that hasn’t happened in a long time,” the coach said.

The Eagle Valley girls lost to Rifle 34-28 on Tuesday before earning a big 60-49 win against Steamboat Springs Thursday to keep their postseason hopes alive. The Sailors hold the 48th and final playoff spot in the CHSSA RPI rankings, with the Devils sitting at 49th.

“It’s up to the basketball gods now to see if our win tonight gets us into that final spot,” wrote coach Vinny Cisneros after the win.

Jasmine Fontana led the way with 22 points with Josie Fitzsimmons and Anna Gill adding 15 apiece. The defensive play of Alyssa Jones, Alexa Alderete and Cedar Fitzsimmons helped blaze a 19-10 third quarter run that culminated in a Fontana halfcourt buzzer beater.

“That put us up by double digits, and we never looked back,” stated Cisneros about the team’s final regular season game.

In other prep basketball action this week, the Battle Mountain boys defeated Basalt 60-46 on Monday to improve to 6-15. They will travel to Rifle Thursday before finishing their regular season on the road against Palisade on Saturday.

Ski Notes: State gets underway in Winter Park and Granby

At the 2021 state meet, Aspen took girls and boys team titles on the Nordic side. With many athletes migrating over to the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club, the Skier’s have been thinner than normal in the discipline this season. Eagle Valley placed second last year, with Vail Mountain School coming in third and Battle Mountain placing sixth. On the girls side, the Gore Rangers were fifth, Battle Mountain was eighth, and Eagle Valley placed 10th.

Based upon their cumulative team point totals, all of the area teams had good reason for optimism going into the two day affair.

Senior Ferguson St. John led the favorite Eagle Valley team in Thursday’s opening event, continuing his undefeated streak in individual races by taking the classic crown in style. He finished 41 seconds in front of Battle Mountain’s Sullivan Middaugh, who gapped Vail Mountain School’s Cyrus Creasy by 20 seconds. Jake Drever utilized his strong aerobic engine to place fourth for the Devils, with Brody Nielsen finishing fifth overall to round out the ever important third and final scoring slot. Miles McKenzie also secured a top ten finish for the Huskies, who entered the state meet perfectly matched in total season points with the Devils at 961.

Friday’s individual races will have skinny ski enthusiasts salivating. St. John and Middaugh will go at it one more time in their final chances at state supremacy. In the all-state rankings, St. John is ranked no. 1, Middaugh is no. 2, and Eagle Valley’s Lukas Bergsten is no. 4. Will Brunner of Vail Mountain School is the other area athlete in the top 10, sitting in ninth. Meanwhile, Seamus Farrelll is ranked 12th, but he is currently the no. 1 ranked skimeister (combined Alpine and Nordic season long competition).

On the girl’s side, Lake County entered the meet with the potential to be dominant, depending on who showed up. Lake County’s defending state champion Rose Horning, who has won most of her Ski and Snowboard Club Vail races this year, is priming for U.S. Junior Nationals in March. Fortunately for the Panthers, Thursday’s skate race fit into her peaking plan, where she demonstrated her dominance with a 71-second victory over teammate Ella Bullock, who finished second. Sophia Bertonneau and Ella Hagen paired up behind the Lake County duo for third and fourth, and Sam Blair was the top Eagle Valley skier in eighth.

Battle Mountain relied on its depth with Lindsey Whitton —ranked no. 1 in the girls skimeister standings — finishing in ninth and Addison Beuche and Haley McKenzie finishing 14th and 15th, respectively.

Heading into Friday’s classic, Bullock has momentum stored up in the discipline, having won last weekend’s 5-kilometer classic in Steamboat Springs by nine seconds.

The girls 5k classic takes off Friday at 3:00 p.m., with the boys following at 4:00 p.m. in the same discipline and distance. Results will be available at www.kandutiming.com/results.

In Winter Park, Alpine skiers took to the nearby slopes for the state giant slalom competition on Thursday. A slalom will follow on Friday. Team scores from those competitions go towards an overall team title, which was swept by Aspen last year.

Will Bettenhausen, who came into state brimming with confidence after a second place finish last Friday at Beaver Creek, was the highest placing Battle Mountain skier, finishing in fourth. Andrew Conley finished ninth as six Huskies skied into the top 15. Toby Scarpella of Durango won the overall title, with Aspen’s David Conners and Summit’s Dylan Smith rounding out the podium.

Though he is perhaps more known for his basketball prowess, Vail Mountain’s Cole Pattison produced from the fifth bib position, placing 10th for the Gore Rangers.

Consistency was key on the girls side, where Paige Petersen, who sat in fourth after the first run, moved into first for Summit with a blazing 1:06.21 second, 1.76 seconds faster than the second-best run, which belonged to Battle Mountain’s Robin Pavelich. The Husky senior finished in the silver medal position, with Ava Crowley of Vail Mountain School in sixth as the only two local skiers to crack the top 10.

There are plenty of storylines heading into this weekend’s 4A Region 1 wrestling tournament, and some have been brewing for multiple years.

When Angelo Vasquez leads his Battle Mountain team to Broomfield on Friday for the two day tournament, it is hard to imagine he won’t be reminded of how last year his son, Jeremiah, then ranked No. 1 in Colorado’s heavyweight division, was prevented from competing at state his senior year because of a positive COVID-19 test. As a junior, his upset of Broomfield’s prima donna heavyweight at the state meet en route to a third place finish sparked a mini-rivalry with the two teams that has the coach excited about heading east.

“We’re looking forward to wrestling the No. 3 Falcon and No. 6 Broomfield teams,” Vasquez said of the weekend’s team aspect.

The Huskies also have myriad intriguing individuals to keep an eye on. Grady Devins, Ignacio Velasco and Matthew Marshall all won their district championships last weekend, with the latter two having eclipsed 100 career wins in their final campaigns to move to No. 7 and No. 8, respectively, on the Battle Mountain all-time list, which is topped by Jesus Morales’s 145 victories. In addition, 113-pound Chris Ortiz, who jumped up to varsity mid-season, could surprise.

“He has wrestled tough for us all year; I think he has a great opportunity to shock a couple kids and make it to the final third and fourth place match and maybe take a state spot,” Vasquez praised.

Even though Velasco — “Iggy” — has had a brilliant season, posting a 40-3 record, he won’t enter as the 145-pound favorite. Broomfield’s undefeated Ryan Vigil holds that honor. “(He’s a) really sharp wrestler,” Vasquez described the No. 2 ranked wrestler in all of 4A. The coach has phrased Ignacio’s task as “taking the head off the dragon.”

Eagle Valley’s Cody Raper will be formidable as well. “They’ve wrestled each other pretty tough since middle school,” Vasquez said of the rivalry. Velasco has gotten the better of the Devil twice this year.

Battle Mountain’s coach had good seats to view Iggy’s progression. He lives down the street and has wrestled his sons since middle school.

“He’s a great kid; he’s one heck of an athlete,” Vasquez said of his neighbor.

“It’s just been fun watching him grow in this sport every year. He’s definitely made the whole coaching staff, his family and the school proud.”

Marshall is the other Husky senior. He’s been accepted at Northern Colorado and hopes to compete at the next level.

“He’s just a go-getter,” the coach said of the 182-pound dual-sport athlete. “Marshall’s one of those kids — I like to tell him, ‘I’m just going to tell you I doubt you right now, and you’re going to go pull it off.'” The football player has a knack for rising to the challenge, each and every time.

“He’s just one of those kids that shows up for practice every day, works as hard as he possibly can, and then goes home with the goofiest look on his face,” Vasquez chuckled.

The final layer of the weekend’s drama involves pioneer Kim Gardea, who was featured in December for being the first female wrestler in the Lady Husky program. Gardea will wrestle for a top-5 state-clinching spot at Grand Junction Central while her comrades are in Broomfield.

“She’s sitting in a really good spot where if she gets one or two big wins, she has a shot at going and wrestling with us at Ball Arena,” Vasquez said of her state chances.

Vasquez described his pupil as a sponge. The intensity of daily competitions between Velasco and Marshall is starting to rub off on her.

“She’s started to develop that attitude of what it takes to be competitive in a bigger tournament,” the coach said, noting that his senior rookie has given the No. 2 ranked wrestler in the state increasing fits in each of their three matches.

“She’s definitely in there to make as much as she possibly can of the short time she has in the wrestling room,” Vasquez lauded, noting his staff is searching for a place at the next level for Gardea. “She’s got more want for the sport than most.”

The theme of this year’s crew, through the eyes of Vasquez, doubles nicely as a send-off message for his hungry team: “Never give up, believe in yourself, and go after it.”