The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate volleyball team opened its season with a four-game tournament in Glenwood Springs last weekend.
The Lady Pirates started the tournament with a 2-1 win over Coal Ridge, but lost the next three.
Coach Chelsea Caler attributed those losses to errors, and expressed she feels that when the girls are able to clean things up, they are going to be a tough team to play.
Pagosa Springs kicked off the tournament and their season with a late afternoon showdown on Friday, Aug. 21, against the Coal Ridge Titans.
The Lady Pirates won the first set 25-18, dropped the second set 25-14 and won the winner-take-all third set 15-12.
“I thought we did a really good job of turning our opportunities into points against Coal Ridge,” Caler wrote in an email to the SUN. “Our serve receive was solid, but more importantly, our hitters were putting balls away and we were able to get our offense going.”
Avea Bruce led the girls with nine kills in the match. Dawson Iverson was right behind her with eight kills, and she held a kill percentage of 53.3 percent. Veda Deitemeyer had four kills, Sydney Plake had three, Malorie Morton had two and Ellie Vining had one.
Darria Fiorenza led the team with three aces, Tatiana Monterroso and Plake each had two, and Iverson and Saleisha Black each had one.
After the win to open their season, the Lady Pirates went on a three-game slide in the final three games of the tournament.
“Honestly, it came down to errors,” wrote Caler. “We had some hitting and blocking errors that put us in some holes, and we struggled at times to get ourselves back out of them.”
In their second game of the tournament and second game on Friday, the girls lost 2-0 to Meeker.
The Lady Pirates lost the first set 25-16 and the second set 25-11.
Morton, Bruce, Deitemeyer and Iverson each had three kills, which accounted for all 12 Pagosa Springs kills in the match.
Fiorenza and Iverson each had two aces and were the only two girls on the team with aces in the match.
The Lady Pirates finished with 12 attacking errors and five service errors in the match.
The second set of two matches was played on Saturday, Aug. 22. The Lady Pirates started the day off with a match against the tournament host Glenwood Springs.
The team lost the match 2-0, which included a close 27-25 loss in the first set and a 25-15 loss in the second set.
Plake led the team with four kills and Iverson had three kills. Bruce, Deitemeyer and Vining each had two kills. Iverson also had three aces, and Liana Vega and Monterroso each had one.
The Lady Pirates committed eight attacking errors, three service errors and eight receiving errors.
The loss set up a matchup with Rifle for the Lady Pirates’ final match of the tournament.
The Lady Pirates couldn’t correct the slide and lost 2-1 to the Bears.
The Bears took a close first set 28-26, but the Lady Pirates evened it up after the second with a score of 25-22. Ultimately, the Bears came out on top with a 15-6 win in the third set.
Iverson and Plake each had eight kills in the match to co-lead the team. Morton had six, Deitemeyer had four and Vining had two. Vining led the team in aces with three, Iverson had two and Monterroso had one.
The Lady Pirates committed 24 attacking errors, 10 service errors and five receiving errors.
“We’re still working on getting our hitters and setters connected and finding that timing,” Caler wrote. “When it clicks, I think we’re going to have some serious power.”
Despite going 1-3 at the tournament, Caler indicates she was impressed with the girls’ level of competition even when they were struggling.
She also highlighted that setters Vega and Black are taking on big leadership roles in their first varsity experience and handling it in stride.
The Lady Pirates were back in action on Tuesday, Aug. 25, against Dolores in their home opener.
After the tournament, Caler emphasized that the Bears were going to be a tall task for the girls and that proved true as the Lady Pirates lost 3-0.
“Dolores is a fundamentally sound team,” wrote Caler. “They do a good job of putting pressure on you while taking care of their side of the net, and that exposed some of the inconsistencies we’re still working through.”
The Lady Pirates lost the first set 25-14, the second set 25-11 and the third set 25-19.
Serving and passing, two things that Caler noted the Lady Pirates had done well throughout the early part of the season, broke down for the girls against Dolores, she indicates.
She also mentions that, like the tournament in Glenwood Springs, the team committed too many unforced errors.
“We definitely had some good stretches, and I think the biggest positive for me was that the match gave us a really clear picture of what we need to work on,” the coach wrote. “Right now, we’re still learning how to stay composed and execute when the pace picks up and we’re under pressure.”
Stats for the game were not available by press time Wednesday.
The Lady Pirates now have over a week until their next match.
Caler emphasizes that in that time the Lady Pirates will be working on taking care of their side of the net, putting points away when the opportunity presents itself and making smarter decisions.
She also notes that practices will be intense over the next week, especially since the schedule starts to take off after this break.
On Thursday, Sept. 3, the Lady Pirates, who are now 1-4, will head to Durango to take on the 4A Demons, who are 1-0, for their sixth match of the season.
Including the Durango match, the girls will play six matches in less than two weeks.
“We’re still a young team in terms of experience playing together, and I think these are the kinds of matches that will help us grow,” wrote Caler. “We just have to be willing to learn from them and get better.”
jsellner@orourkemediagroup.com
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