After a tough loss to Grand Junction on Saturday, Durango girls tennis got the job done and beat Montrose 6-1 on Monday at Durango High School.
The Demons improved to 3-6 overall in matches this year with the win.
“That's a unique match because we played them during the first week of the season,” Durango girls tennis coach Darren Tarshis said. “Then we played them the second time in the eighth week of the season. It's always an interesting indicator of if we are improving, are they improving and who's improving faster. We beat them 6-1 the first week of the season and we beat them 6-1 yesterday. It’s a good indicator that we're on track and everybody's getting better.”
Tarshis said the highlight of the match against Montrose on Monday was the play of sophomore Jordan Kitchens in number two singles and senior Rachel Ager in number three singles.
In the first set, Kitchens was down 5-0 and won seven straight games to win the set. Ager was down 4-1 in her first set and came back to win 6-4.
Tarshis said Kitchens’ progression has come from an increase in self-belief this season. He also said this season Ager is playing singles for the first time so she has improved with experience throughout this year.
The Demons’ double play was also impressive, with three convincing wins against Montrose. Tarshis said he tries to maintain consistency in the doubles pairings and it’s paying off with the chemistry between the pairs increasing.
Durango girls tennis is back in action on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. at home against Fruita Monument for senior day. The Demons will be honoring six seniors.
Girls lacrosse’s chances of a league title have been vanquished
The Demons’ girls lacrosse team hit the road this past week and didn’t have a successful trip. On Thursday, Durango lost 10-8 at Grand Junction. On Friday, the Demons lost 9-7 at Fruita Monument.
Durango fell to 4-5 overall and 2-3 in the 4A Mountain West League after the losses. The Demons currently sit third in the league with three league games to go.
“It just didn't go the way we had worked it out in our mind,” Durango girls lacrosse head coach Eric Elliot said. “The girls played their tails off and we left it all out on the field. We get about three minutes back in each one of those games it would have been a different result … I can't say anything else other than everybody played some of the best games of the season.”
Elliot specifically applauded the play of junior goalie Fiona Chandler and sophomore defender Scarlett Ramsey. He said Ramsey played the two best games of her career. She caused numerous turnovers and Ramsey has improved her stick skills throughout the season and also worked hard in the offseason.
Against Grand Junction, juniors Sofia Naffziger and Silvie Bosmans each scored two goals to lead the Demons. Grand Junction sophomore Madi DeGeorge led the Tigers with five goals.
Chandler had 11 saves against 21 shots on goal.
Elliot attributed the eight goals on offense against Grand Junction to playing on grass. He said it’s a different game compared to playing on turf as the Demons’ conditioning and speed are negated on grass. Ground balls are also more difficult.
In the loss to Fruita Monument, sophomore Taylor Babcock led Durango with two goals and an assist. Junior Dylan Aspen had two assists for the Demons.
Chandler had 14 saves against Fruita after facing 23 shots on goal.
The Demons played Tuesday night against Telluride but the game hadn’t finished before press time.
“We're playing for pride and we're playing for seeding and in the state tournament,” Elliot said. “Our hopes and aspirations to win the league title are gone. But at the end of the day, that doesn't really matter. We have a pretty good chance of getting a pretty high seed. I don't know if we'll have high enough seed to host the first-round game but we'll have a high seed where we're playing a team that we'd be pretty evenly matched against. We're definitely not a team to be taken lightly.”
Durango baseball gets crushed by Grand Junction in second game
After a close 3-2 loss the day before, the Demons baseball team lost a 13-2 blowout to Grand Junction on Saturday.
Durango fell to 8-6 overall and 0-2 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League with the loss.
Sophomore Tate Rose and junior Jack Englund both had a hit and an RBI for Durango. Englund pitched four innings and allowed seven hits and five runs. He also had four strikeouts.
The Demons took a 2-1 lead after the first inning but couldn’t score again. Grand Junction took a 3-2 lead after three innings and then the Tigers scored eight runs in the fifth to blow open the game and cruise to victory.
Durango hit the road to play Palisade on Tuesday but stats were unavailable at press time.
Boys lacrosse loses on the road to Grand Junction
The Demons boys lacrosse team struggled on the road at Grand Junction on Saturday and lost 19-6.
Durango fell to 2-8 overall and 1-6 in the 4A Mountain League after the loss. Grand Junction improved to 6-6 overall and 6-1 in the 4A Mountain League after the win.
Demons junior JT Munger had four goals in the loss. Senior Cruz Martinez and sophomore Bradin Gurule each had goals for Durango.
Grand Junction junior Ryland Hewitt had six goals and freshman Paxton Webber also had five goals for the Tigers.
Durango trailed 6-2 after the first quarter and 12-4 at halftime. The Demons then trailed 18-6 after the third quarter.
The next game on the schedule for Durango is at home against Grand Junction on Thursday at 4 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
