After two sets of volleyball between Durango and Alamosa inside Durango High School on Tuesday night, fans wouldn’t have thought the match was going five sets. Durango was up 2-0 and had taken advantage of Alamosa’s hitting errors. The Demons used their well-balanced offense to make Alamosa uncomfortable.
But Alamosa responded and showed why it was 15-2 heading into this match. The Mean Moose finished the third set strong and dominated the fourth set. Durango looked like it had lost all its momentum with a great Alamosa crowd cheering the Mean Moose on.
Now with the match tied 2-2, Durango rebounded and found its composure again to take the third set 15-13 for a 3-2 match win.
The Demons improved to 9-7 overall with the win and 3A Alamosa fell to 15-3 overall with the loss.
“Super proud of them,” Durango head coach Kelley Rifilato said. “Avery (Rike) got emotional at the end. I said, ‘When people serve at you, it's a sign of respect because they're trying to take you out of your game.’ We talked about serving at 11 (Aubrey Rothermich and three (Taybor Wiedeman) for the same reasons. In a good team, somebody else steps up and is fantastic. Devin (Edwards) played fantastic tonight. She missed a couple of serves and then regrouped defensively.”
Senior outside hitter Avery Rike led the Demons with 13 kills. Junior Hadyn Neiman had 12 kills and freshman Devyn Edwards had eight kills for the Demons. Senior setter Eva Stewart had six kills and 35 assists.
Before the game, Eva Stewart was given a volleyball signed by her teammates in a glass case. A four-year varsity player, Stewart passed 2,000 career assists at Fruita Monument last week.
“It means a lot to know I have a lot of support and a lot of people by my side,” Stewart said. “Without them, I wouldn’t have got those 2,000 assists.”
In the first set, the Mean Moose had a few hitting errors, allowing Durango to settle in and take an 8-4 lead.
The Mean Moose cleaned up their errors and showed off their power, athleticism and skill to cut the Durango lead to 11-10. Alamosa played a lot of tip shots. Some were nicely placed while others came up short against the net.
Durango pushed its lead to 16-10 after a few Alamosa hitting errors. The Mean Moose were crushing the ball out of bounds during the first set. Stewart was aggressive with her scoring. She attempted a lot of dump shots and was successful, giving the Demons a 20-13 lead.
“We all watched film and we knew that Bayfield played them the other day and Bayfield won a set based on everything going to the middle of the court,” Rifilato said. “So that's what I kept telling Eva when she's in the front row, she can do whatever because she’s above everyone. In the back row, I told her she could still dump and just stay below the net. She did that more tonight than she had … she did them at the right time.”
Neiman finished off the first set with a powerful kill down the middle for a 25-21 set win.
Mean Moose junior middlebacker Aubrey Rothermich showed her leaping ability with some powerful kills at the net to give Alamosa a 4-1 lead in the second set.
Durango was a bit sloppy to start the second set with multiple hitting errors. Despite Alamosa’s prowess at the net, the Mean Moose had a few hitting errors of their own and this led to Alamosa’s lead being cut to a 9-9 tie.
The Demons took their first lead after a great rally. Neiman took a great set and powered a spike to the right side for a 15-14 lead.
Alamosa took the lead right back after a few errors by Durango. Alamosa tied the set at 19 with a nice block at the net. Stewart responded with a great block at the net and a tip at the net for a 22-19 lead.
Hitting errors doomed Alamosa at the end of the second set. Fittingly, Stewart finished off the second set with a kill for the 25-20 set win.
Alamosa raced to a 5-2 lead in the third set. The Demons had a few points that barely found the inside of the white line. Junior Stella James had two points in a row at the net for the Demons’ first lead of the set 8-7.
The Mean Moose responded thanks to some Demons errors in the middle of the set. But the hitting errors made their way over to the Alamosa side of the court. A Stewart ace gave the Demons a 14-13 lead.
Hitting errors then made their way over to the Durango side of the net and Alamosa had a 19-15 lead. Durango also struggled with Alamosa’s presence at the net. Alamosa took a 25-17 third-set win.
“They missed a bunch of serves in the first two sets,” Rifilato said about Alamosa. “All of a sudden they were serving hard and in the court. What we had done to them in the first two games they did to us.”
Durango struggled at the start of the fourth set, looking a bit disorganized down 6-2. Rifilato had to call a timeout with her frustration/confusion visible.
The Demons battled back with more composure to make it 10-9. Hitting errors returned and Alamosa had some nice tip shots to put the Mean Moose up 14-9 and forcing another Rifilato timeout.
Alamosa took even more control after some confusion and errors with a 19-10 lead. The momentum was clearly on Alamosa’s side and Durango looked defeated. Alamosa cruised to a 25-12 fourth set win.
Durango finally got off to a good start in a set and led 5-2 in the fifth set. Neiman took control with a few powerful kills to set the tone. Alamosa continued having success with tip and dump shots and took a 7-6 lead.
The Demons had no answers for Alamosa’s hitting and went down 11-8 before Rifilato used her last timeout.
Rifilato told her team to focus on their passing to set up kill opportunities on side-outs.
Edwards came out with two consecutive points and an ace by junior libero Mia Carozza tied the set at 11. Durango took the lead again thanks to a Mean Moose hitting error. Two more hitting errors by Alamosa. ended the fifth set and Durango took the win 15-13.
Durango plays at Montrose next on Friday at 6 p.m. Rifilato said the team needs to have stronger blocking and to keep serving tough so the Demons can finish the season strong.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
