YOUR AD HERE »

Summit Tigers volleyball overcomes early deficit to defeat West Grand

The Summit High School volleyball team huddles together while facing West Grand High School on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. The Tigers beat the Mustangs, 3-1, for its second win of the season.
Cody Jones/Summit Daily News

After losing in three sets to the Resurrection Christian Cougars over the weekend in Loveland, the Summit High School volleyball team got back on track against the West Grand Mustangs on Tuesday, Aug. 30, winning three out of four sets.

The Tigers won their first game of the season against Clear Creek High School on Wednesday, Aug. 24. The home opener win not only marked the first win of the season for the Tigers but was also the inaugural win under first-year head coach Cynthia Durloo.

In Tuesday’s opening set, a series of quick points were scored by West Grand, but Summit soon found its groove to score 5 unanswered points. The quick run by the Tigers was met by a run of West Grand’s own — evening the score at 7-7 in the early part of the first set.



Throughout the rest of the first set, the two non-league opponents battled back and forth, exchanging leads until West Grand finally pulled away by two to win the set, 26-24.  

The Tigers began the second set with more intensity working up a 5-point lead before allowing the Mustangs to score. 



The Tigers kept up the intensity through the entire set, led in large part by juniors Karlyn Frazier, Chloe Nicholds and Sierra Durloo. Summit won the second set by double digits, 25-15, to even the sets up. 

“During the first set, I think we really struggled to put what we had on the court,” Frazier said. “The next set, we all individually focused on what we could do better in the game.”

Nicholds added that the team also had a collective mental shift to overcome the early deficit.

“We also all brought up our attitudes and our talking,” Nicholds said. “We had fun with it. We play better when we have fun, and really that’s what we should do every game.”

Junior Karlyn Frazier serves the ball during the Summit High School volleyball game against West Grand on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. The Tigers beat the Mustangs 3-1 after losing the first set of the match.
Cody Jones/Summit Daily News

The third set of the game played out much like the first, with the lead going back and forth, and both teams searching for a source of momentum.

Midway through the set, the Tigers found their mojo. They scored several unanswered points in a row, and the Mustangs called a timeout. The timeout led to a few points for West Grand, but Summit’s pursuit for their second win overpowered the Mustangs’ advances.

Senior Autumn Rivera and Nicholds helped close out the set for Summit, 25-20, giving the Tigers a 2-1 cushion going into the fourth set. 

West Grand attempted to get back in the game and force the match to a fifth and final set, but Summit was able to take advantage of stellar court communication to build a lead midway through the set. West Grand made a series of runs and brought the score within 2 or 3 points a few times, but Summit’s lead was too much to overcome, and the Tigers closed out the fourth set, 25-23, and secured the win.

Summit improves its record to 2-1 on the season, while West Grand drops to 2-2.  

A lot of the Summit’s success against West Grand was due to the setters and the hitters working together to create scoring plays. Many times throughout the game, Nicholds set up Frazier for powerful hits over the net that were too hot for the Mustangs to handle. 

“I was talking to my hitters and making sure they knew what they wanted to hit, what they were going to hit,” Nicholds said. 

“She was super helpful,” Frazier said of Nicholds’ sets throughout the match. “If I didn’t have a good set, I wouldn’t be able to swing like I do.”

Chloe Nicholds prepares to serve the ball to West Grand High School during the Summit girls volleyball game on Tuesday, Aug. 30, in Breckenridge. Summit defeated West Grand 3-1 after losing the opening set.
Cody Jones/Summit Daily News

The Summit volleyball team will have its first league match of the season on Thursday, Sept. 8, when the team takes on the Glenwood Springs Demons. The match is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. in Glenwood Springs. 

“I think we need to work super hard during practice to get everything done,” Frazier said. “We are going to work on our defense — overall just everything in general like connecting as a team more so that during our first league match we can come out with the win.”


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.

Summit Daily is embarking on a multiyear project to digitize its archives going back to 1989 and make them available to the public in partnership with the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The full project is expected to cost about $165,000. All donations made in 2023 will go directly toward this project.

Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.