After the first two sets of the Summit High School girls volleyball game against the Battle Mountain Huskies on Tuesday, Sept. 20, it appeared the Tigers were going to be shutout.

A majority of Summit’s student section had left the stands after the second set in anticipation that the Tigers would lose 3-0. But the Tigers refused to give up.

The third set was monumental since it helped he Tigers claw their way back into the game, but despite the valiant effort, the team ultimately fell to Battle Mountain, 3 sets to 2.

In the first set against the Tigers’ inter-league rivals, the Huskies quickly built a 3-0 lead. Once Summit found a way to settle into the game, the team matched Battle Mountain point for point for the vast majority of the first set. Led by junior Shannon Reed, senior Autumn Rivera, junior Bella Benson and junior Chloe Nicholds the Tigers trailed by four points, with a score of 12-8 at the midway point. In the latter part of the set, Summit stood its ground with junior Karlyn Frazier scoring on a spike and senior Joanna White recording an ace off of a serve. 

After attempting to mount a comeback throughout the first set, the Tigers ending up losing 25-19.

Despite trailing by several points for a majority of the second set, Summit continued to fight for points by working to keep the ball alive. Many Summit athletes surrendered their bodies on the court by making epic dive attempts to prevent another point being awarded to Battle Mountain. The Huskies play was too strong for the Tigers to match, however. The Tigers lost the second set 25-15. 

Summit arguably had its best set of the entire match when the team had their backs against the wall in the do-or-die third set. 

For the first time in the match, the Tigers quickly amassed a 9-4 lead, which forced the Huskies to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Nicholds and the Summit defense led the team, helping the Tigers secure a long scoring spree to lead 22-12 as they remained firm control of the set.

Summit closed the rest of the third set to win 25-12 and extend the game.

The turnaround from Summit continued to frustrate Battle Mountain in the fourth set. Unlike earlier in the game, the Huskies made critical mistakes in response to the tough play from the Tigers. Similar to the previous set, the Tigers got out to a substantial lead early on, but this time the Huskies rebounded out of a timeout to score several unanswered points. 

Summit led 13-11 at the midway point. Every point that was scored by Summit was followed by a point scored by Battle Mountain, resulting in a back-and-forth battle, which put most spectators on the edge of their seats. Leading 20-19, the Tigers nonstop resiliency resulted in them scoring the final 5 points to win 25-20 and force a fifth set. 

“We kind of tried to forget the first two sets and worked to not give up,” Reed said of the team’s comeback. “We always say foot on the gas to keep pushing in order to get the win.”

The fifth set could not have been more evenly matched. The Tigers looked to complete a shocking comeback, but the Huskies found a way to finish the game in the end. Battle Mountain led 14-13, allowing the Huskies to score the final point.

“I am proud of our resilience,” Reed said. “We never gave up, and we kept pushing the whole time. It is disappointing that we lost, but we all learned from it.”

The Tigers move to 2-5 overall on the season and 0-4 in league play. They will face another formidable league opponent on Saturday, Sept. 24, when they take on the Palisade Bulldogs at Summit High School.

Summit played Palisade for the first time earlier in the season on Sept. 10 and lost 3-0.  

“This game gives us confidence because we know we can come back if we are down and keep pushing when we are up,” Reed said.