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Granby " Middle Park netters win two matches to cap regular season

Will Bublitz
wbublitz@grandcountynews.com
Byron Hetzler/Sky-Hi Daily News
ALL | Sky-Hi Daily News

Just before entering post-season play, Middle Park High’s volleyball players powered to a couple of quick victories in the final games of their regular season.

The Lady Panthers polished off a scrappy Clear Creek team in four games at home in Granby, Colorado, on Tuesday, Oct. 7. They then followed it up with a three-game victory match over Sheridan on Thursday, Oct. 9.

“These were good confidence-building and tune-up matches for us,” said coach Kris Newberry. “They were a great way to end the regularly scheduled season.”



Victory in four games

The Lady Panthers won the match against Clear Creek’s Golddiggers 25-15, 21-25, 25-18 and 25-23.



“This was a grudge match for us with Clear Creek, who took us by surprise and beat us a couple of weeks ago in a triangular tournament,” Newberry said. “Our mission was to win this time and we did it in four games.”

While the Lady Panthers had a dominating performance in the first game to win it with a big lead, the Golddiggers came back strongly in the second game to even out the match.

“A problem that has plagued us all season is that when a game gets close, our confidence seems to fade and we begin to play tentatively,” Newberry said. “While the next two games were also close, we really worked at jumping and swinging aggressively.”

Middle Park’s spikers rallied and fought back against the Golddiggers, who resorted to some clever tactics.

“Clear Creek runs a quick, scrappy offense,” Newberry said. “Rather then hitting, they began tipping the ball across the net. Once we made the adjustments to that, as well as using our tall line for kills and blocks, the last two games were ours.”

Middle Park sophomore Elsa Krieg led the offense with 15 kills, followed by Shannan Stensvad with 11. Contributing to the team’s attack were Anna Conrad with six kills, Cheyenne Hickox with five, and Quincey Pedersen and Madison Zolnir with two apiece.

The team’s serving was led by Pedersen with two aces. Arielle Steinberg, Chelsea Lang, Jessica Waldron and Krieg earned one ace each.

Krieg was also the leader in blocks, posting four solo blocks for the match. Hickox earned two solos and an assist while Stensvad made one assist block.

The team earned some impressive stats for digs. Lang had 21, Stensvad 17, Krieg 13, and Zolnir and Conrad nine apiece.

Winning in three

In the match against Sheridan, the Lady Panthers dominated the games, winning them by scores of 25-18, 25-16 and 25-19.

“We brought in our bench for this match to give our less experienced players a chance to gain more varsity experience,” Newberry said.

Middle Park’s offense was led by Stensvad and Hickox who swatted eight kills apiece across the net. Three kills each were earned by Conrad and Jenny Kinney while Waldron, Lang and Zolnir posted two each. Single kills were made by Pedersen, Steinberg and Larissa Burg.

Waldron, the team’s setter, made 19 assists. Steinberg earned three digs while Pederson made two.

The Lady Panthers entered the first stage of post-season play on Saturday, Oct. 18 at Bennett. The four-team tournament will determine the seeding for the state tournament.


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