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Eagle Valley lets Summit play zombie volleyball to win in 3 sets

Phil Lindeman
plindeman@summitdaily.com

Summit vs. Eagle Valley — Sept. 29

1S 2S 3S Final

Summit 16 14 6 0

EVHS 25 25 25 3

FRISCO — It’s like Summit hardly showed up to play.

On Tuesday night, the Lady Tigers hosted the Lady Devils of Eagle Valley at home for a volleyball match that should have been closer and more heated than it was, at least for the home team. This is a rivalry, and even though Eagle Valley is undefeated in league play — the girls blanked a usually tough Battle Mountain team earlier this week, 3-0 in Edwards of all things — Summit started the season red hot with wins against Glenwood Springs and Rifle. (The past three weeks since the Machbeauf tourney are another, sloppier story, but that’s for another time.)

Summit lost to Eagle Valley in three sets (16-25, 14-25, 6-25) for one of the home team’s worst defeats of the season. At right around halfway through the season, the loss gives the Tigers a 4-7 overall record and a 2-3 record in the 4A Western Slope. Eagle Valley holds onto the No. 1 spot and improves to 10-2 overall and 6-0 in the 4A Slope. There’s still plenty of league play for both teams, but the Lady Tigers need a few wins to break a three-week losing streak and find their mojo again.



Now back to the beginning. Let’s put it this way: Every set started with a point for Eagle Valley, and all but one came off a shanked hit from the Summit line. The Lady Tigers beat themselves, from those first set points to the final point of the match — when confusion on the net ended in an easy win for the visitors.

Eagle Valley came ready to play ball like an undefeated team. Senior setter Molly Jewett had at least three points in the third game off faked sets to her big, dangerous hitters, fellow senior Kylie Martin and 6-foot junior Emma Lassa. Come to think of it, everyone on the Lady Devils front line was a threat on the kill, and that seemed to throw everything out of whack for the Lady Tigers.



It’s not like Summit was completely dead — more like zombified. AnnaMarie Dodson had a few beautiful kills, but not nearly as many as usual. More often than not they sailed out the back. Sage Kent was reliable as always on the first hit, but Eagle Valley was smart and stopped serving to her, instead picking on sophomore Emma McComb and Sage’s sister, sole varsity freshman Rose Kent.

Summit started the third set with their first lead of the match, 2-1, and then stayed tight with Eagle Valley through a few good volleys and a few sloppy ones. Then, at 5-6, senior Martin had a massive kill and the Lady Tigers never came close again.


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