{"id":1314730,"date":"2019-09-17T22:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T04:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/demons-dominate-serve-line-sweep-rival-bears\/"},"modified":"2019-09-17T22:28:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T04:28:00","slug":"glenwood-springs-dominates-serve-line-sweep-rival-rifle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/glenwood-springs-dominates-serve-line-sweep-rival-rifle\/","title":{"rendered":"Glenwood Springs dominates serve line, sweep rival Rifle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>

The Glenwood Springs Demons come together and celebrate after a play during Tuesday night’s home game against the Rifle Bears.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Glenwood\u2019s girls volleyball team put an early emphasis on serves and serve receives coming into the 2019 season.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night inside Chavez-Spencer Gymnasium, the Demons dominated the serving line, rolling to a 3-0 sweep of the rival Rifle Bears, picking up their third straight win on the year.<\/p>\n

Against Rifle, Glenwood recorded 16 aces as a team, which was 21 percent of the points needed to win three sets on the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take serve and serve receive practice very seriously,\u201d Jason Obreque, Glenwood\u2019s interim head coach, said after the win over Rifle. \u201cWe push the girls in practice to compete like they would in a game, and that\u2019s done a lot with our serving. We\u2019ve put a lot into it so far, and it\u2019s really paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right away in the first set against Rifle Tuesday night, the Demons took control from the serving line as sophomore Kenzie Winder recorded the first ace of the night for Glenwood, giving the Demons a 7-3 lead.<\/p>\n

Rifle responded with a perfectly placed ace from junior Mackenzie Elizardo, but the Demons continued to control the set from the serving line as senior captain Shanik Zambrano recorded an ace and then followed up with a kill, stretching the Demons\u2019 lead to 10-5 in the first set.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey [Glenwood] are very successful at spot serving and placing the ball where they want it to go,\u201d Caitlin Brady, Rifle\u2019s head coach, said following the loss. \u201cWhat we sometimes struggle with is communication in the back row, making sure each person is doing their job and we\u2019re communicating loudly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rifle rallied quickly, though, to make it 10-7 thanks to a well-timed tip from freshman Cora McMillen, while also getting an ace from junior Maddy Valencia.<\/p>\n

Glenwood responded to Valencia\u2019s ace with a 6-1 run as junior Kiah Larson recorded a kill and an ace, senior Kaitlyn Johnson came through with a block and a kill, and sophomore Charlotte Olszewski came through with a big kill, giving the Demons a 16-8 lead they wouldn\u2019t relinquish.<\/p>\n

Back-to-back aces from junior Reese Goluba and a kill from Zambrano closed out the 25-14 first-set win for Glenwood.<\/p>\n

In the second set, Glenwood stormed out to a 5-0 lead as senior captain Emily Nilsson recorded three straight aces to open the set. Rifle showed a great amount of resiliency in the second set, battling back to tie the set at 6-6 as McMillen and junior Whitney Tornes combined for a combination block at the net to stop the Glenwood run. McMillen then recorded an ace of her own before sophomore CJ Hays placed a tipped ball over the net into space, knotting the set at 6-6.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as our defense is going, we\u2019re improving,\u201d Brady said. \u201cI think the girls are learning to read the offense and cover for each other and have each other\u2019s backs; we saw that in the second set early,\u201d Brady said. \u201cOur defense was where it needs to be, but we just need to figure out our offensive attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glenwood didn\u2019t blink, though, embarking on a 7-1 run to take a 13-7 lead as Nilsson and Zambrano combined for three kills, forcing a Rifle timeout.<\/p>\n

Once again, Rifle showed heart, battling back to make it 13-10 out of the break, but the Demons proved to be too much to handle at the serving line and along the net in the second set, as Zambrano recorded three aces before Johnson closed out the set with back-to-back aces, giving the Demons the 25-15 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cServes and serve receives can be a real weapon for us with how well we\u2019re playing in those areas right now,\u201d Obreque said. \u201cIf you can\u2019t serve a ball over the net and receive it, you really can\u2019t play this game, and you\u2019re not going to win; that\u2019s what we\u2019re focusing on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eyeing the three-set sweep, Glenwood came out in the final set determined on its home floor.<\/p>\n

The Demons jumped out to a 10-5 lead, shaking off an early kill from Elizardo as Zambrano answered with a kill, while Nilsson and Larson tipped shots over the net for points, staking the Demons to the lead.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Olszewski took over for Glenwood, recording a kill and a block at the net, before tipping another shot over the net for a point, giving the Demons a 16-6 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe [Olszewski] really stepped up for us,\u201d Obreque said. \u201cShe\u2019s coming off of an injury, so she\u2019s been a bit hesitant to jump off of one foot. She\u2019s gotten a lot better and is getting higher on her jumps; her contacts are a lot better right now too. We\u2019re very proud of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Olszewski\u2019s quick display of dominance, it was all Glenwood as Johnson recorded two aces and Zambrano recorded three kills, giving the Demons a 25-8 win and the rivalry-match sweep.<\/p>\n

The win sees Glenwood improve to 6-2 (2-0 in 4A WSL) on the season. The Demons enter a tough part of their schedule as Glenwood hosts four straight games, including Steamboat Springs Saturday and Eagle Valley Tuesday, Sept. 24, as well as Montrose Sept. 28 and Palisade Oct. 3.<\/p>\n

Zambrano led the Demons with 10 digs, 10 kills and four aces, while Nilsson dished out 25 assists, adding five digs, four aces, five blocks, and three kills in the win. Olszewski chipped in with five kills and three blocks, while Johnson added five digs, three aces, two kills and two blocks. Goluba closed out the night with 12 digs and three aces.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom here on out, it\u2019s a mental game for us,\u201d Obreque said. \u201cWe have a couple of big games coming up, so it\u2019s about mental toughness more than physical toughness. We know the girls can do the job, and perform at a high level; it will just be up to how they respond in those pressure situations coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The loss drops Rifle to 3-8 (0-2 in 4A WSL) on the year. The Bears travel to Palisade Thursday before returning home Saturday for a match with the Basalt Longhorns.<\/p>\n

Valencia led the Bears with three kills, while junior Katelyn Mentink led the Bears with six digs. Junior Karely Salazar added seven assists for Rifle.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur morale is still high, and we believe we can win games and still compete,\u201d Brady said. \u201cAs the coach, I need to figure out how to find the best lineup for our offensive game. We know who our best passers are, but now we need to find that key offensive piece that can not only set blocks defensively, but can put balls on the floor offensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

jcarney@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Glenwood Springs Demons come together and celebrate after a play during Tuesday night’s home game against the Rifle Bears.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Glenwood\u2019s girls volleyball team put an early emphasis on serves and serve receives coming into the 2019 season. On Tuesday night inside Chavez-Spencer Gymnasium, the Demons dominated the serving line, rolling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1314730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 15:41:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314730\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}