The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate volleyball went 3-2 in its first week of the season.
The Lady Pirates opened action on the season in Glenwood Springs at the Demon Invitational, where the team went 2-2.
“We took a real small group and had I think really great team bonding time,” coach Katie Lorenzen said, “and I think lots of growth on the court.”
The Lady Pirates opened tournament play against the host Glenwood Springs Demons on Friday, Aug. 23, but fell in two sets — 25-12 and 25-10.
Aspen Pitcher led the team with two of its total four kills in the match, with the others made by Lexi Campbell and Cadence Kerns.
Campbell led the team in attacks, logging 13 of the team’s 49.
Dawson Iverson and Campbell scored one ace each for the team.
Kerns and Campbell led the team in serving points, with each scoring three of the team’s 16 serving points.
The Lady Pirates had three blocks on the day, with Pitcher recording one solo block and one assisted block. Kerns, Kaila Limebrook and Iverson each had one assisted block.
Campbell led the team in digs with six of the team’s 21. Pitcher followed with four.
Sophia Sottek had the team’s only two assists in the matchup.
Pitcher logged 14 of the team’s 39 serve receptions in the game with no errors. The team had five serve reception errors.
“We started off pretty rough, but it was not surprising with a lot of young girls — young in terms of varsity experience,” Lorenzen said. “There were a ton of jitters in our first match, so I wasn’t worried that that’s where we were going to be at for the season, it’s just we were starting with a lot of jitters, a ton of errors. So, the first game was kind of just a wash.”
After that, Lorenzen explained, the team made a change going from a six-two to a five-two.
“It looked like it worked for us,” she said. “It gave middles a chance to run slides.”
The Lady Pirates next faced the Roaring Fork Rams, defeating the Rams in three sets.
Pagosa took the first set 25-12, dropped the second set 25-20 and won the final set 15-6 to log the win.
Iverson and Pitcher led the team with six kills each out of the team’s total 17 kills.
The team had five aces in the game. Campbell and Iverson scored two each, with Kerns scoring one.
Limebrook led the team in serving points with eight. Sottek, Campbell and Kerns each tallied seven serving points in the matchup, with Pitcher having six.
The team had 43 serving points against the Rams.
The Lady Pirates had six blocks, with Kerns logging two solo blocks and two assisted blocks. Pitcher and Iverson each had a solo block, and Campbell and Limebrook each tallied an assisted block.
Kerns led the team with seven of its 18 digs.
Hayden Peterson led the team with five of its nine assists, with Sottek contributing four.
Campbell logged 12 serve receptions with no errors and Pitcher logged 10 with no errors.
The team had 31 serve receptions with three errors.
On Saturday, Aug. 24, the Lady Pirates played against the Meeker Cowboys and Coal Ridge Titans, falling to the Cowboys but securing a victory against the Titans.
Against the Cowboys, the Lady Pirates lost 2-0, with the first set being 25-23 and the second being 25-9.
Pitcher led the team with six of its 17 kills and recorded the team’s only ace.
Pitcher and Sottek earned eight and six of the team’s 25 serving points, respectively.
The Lady Pirates had two blocks in the game, with Pitcher notching one solo block, and Kerns and Peterson each recording an assisted block.
Sottek also led the team in digs with nine of its total 28. Kerns had five.
Sottek logged seven of the team’s 12 assists against the Cowboys.
Campbell had the most serve receptions on the team with 20.
Pitcher followed with nine serve receptions. The team totaled 41 serve receptions with two errors.
The Lady Pirates defeated the Titans 2-1 to round out tournament play.
Coal Ridge took the first set 25-20, but the Lady Pirates fought back, winning the next two sets 25-20 and 15-10, respectively.
Campbell and Pitcher led the team with six kills each out of the 21 kills against the Titans.
Iverson contributed three of the team’s four aces, with Limebrook laying the other.
Pitcher led the team in serving points, landing 12 of the 47 serving points the team scored, with Limebrook following with nine.
The Lady Pirates had five total blocks, with Campbell logging one solo block and three assisted. Kerns had three assisted blocks and Iverson notched a solo block.
Pitcher also led the team with seven of its 34 digs, with Kerns following with six.
Peterson had the most assists on the team, with 10 out of the team’s total 16.
Lorenzen highlighted several aspects of the team’s play at the tournament.
“I think both middles did really well over the weekend,” Lorenzen said.
Iverson, a sophomore, she noted, had quite a few kills and a really good hitting percentage with few errors.
Kerns, a senior, barely played middle last year at the end of the season, according to the coach, but is “looking super strong.”
Kerns is also playing back row and is strong all around, she added.
Lorenzen also highlighted the team’s outside hitters, who she noted took the “junk balls when necessary” and stayed low error.
She also noted Pitcher and Iverson both logged high hitting percentages as outside hitters, which she called “awesome.”
“So, that was really good,” she said. “Defensively, I think we have some discipline stuff to work on, but we did have some great hustle plays. And, overall, the theme of the weekend was just high energy and girls who are excited for each other. And that’s the most fun thing to watch, is their excitement for each other.”
On Tuesday, Aug. 27, the Lady Pirates were victorious against the Dolores Bears.
The Lady Pirates won in three sets against the Bears: 25-6, 25-14 and 25-17.
Out of the team’s 25 kills, Pitcher and Kerns led with eight and seven each, respectively.
“Both outside hitters hit .500, so that was a great performance for both of them,” Lorenzen said of Pitcher and Campbell.
Pitcher, Sottek, and Campbell each tallied three service aces for the team, leading the team’s 12 total, which Lorenzen called “huge.”
The team scored 58 serving points, with Sottek and Campbell leading with 17 and 13, respectively.
The Lady Pirates had four total blocks, with Pitcher and Campbell each notching a solo block. Limebrook and Iverson each had two assisted blocks.
Sottek and Kerns each had five of the team’s 18 total digs.
Sottek was the only Lady Pirate with double-digit assists, picking up 14 of the team’s total 22.
Pitcher had the most service receptions on the team, with nine of the team’s 26.
“We were playing in a very small gym and it gets really loud,” Lorenzen said. “There was a point when the ref blew the whistle and play continued for what felt like 10 seconds, it was probably like five, and no one could hear because it was so, so loud no one could hear the whistle she was continuing to blow. So, it was fun to play in that environment, come out with the sweep.”
Lorenzen added all of Pagosa’s teams ended with sweeps against Dolores.
“So, that was a great start, and we saw some pretty awesome things from the younger girls,” she said.
She added that, overall, it was a “really exciting day” to see the growth that has occurred in the last two weeks.
The Lady Pirates will next play on Sept. 5, when they will open league play against the Alamosa Mean Moose.
The Mean Moose are 1-0 on the season.
For more on the matchup, see the Sept. 5 issue of The SUN.
randi@pagosasun.com
