Roaring Fork High School’s girls volleyball team finally found a way to win a tight five-game match, and in front of the Homecoming Week crowd to make it extra special.
Hosting Coal Ridge on Sept. 26, the Rams scored an important 3A Western Slope League win, 3-2, over the Lady Titans.
As they’ve become accustomed to doing this season, it was another thriller that followed a tough but encouraging 3-2 loss to second-place Gunnison on the home court back on Sept. 21.
After the 25-16, 19-25, 25-22, 23-25, 10-15 set loss to Gunnison, the Rams stepped up in a big way against Coal Ridge, winning the game by set scores of 21-25, 27-25, 25-19, 20-25 and, most importantly, 15-13 in the tie-breaker.
Sophomore Nikki Tardif recorded 10 kills and three blocks on the evening, and fellow sophomore Yakelin Hernandez had 14 kills.
Junior Erica Crownhart had 24 digs, and twin sister Carley had 22 digs along with seven aces from the service line.
The Rams stand at six wins and seven losses on the season and are 1-2 in League play ahead of an important road contest at Basalt (7-6, 0-2) on Thursday, Oct. 5. Game time is set for 6:30pm at Basalt High’s “Big House.”
JV football update
After scoring a Homecoming Week win over North Fork, 34-6, on Sept. 25, Roaring Fork’s junior varsity football team suffered a 16-12 loss at Basalt on Oct. 2 to drop to 3-1 on the season.
Low on player numbers, the Rams made the tough call this season to scrap the varsity program and to rebuild at the JV level. Several varsity players joined the Glenwood Springs team, but a talented group of younger players are keeping the Rams spirit alive.
“Although we’re small in numbers, we are very strong in talent,” coach Scott Noll said this week. “This group of boys are going to be the successful future of Roaring Fork Football. We plan to return to varsity next year, and I’m very committed to see this program grow and succeed.”
The Rams’ JV squad is on the road at Meeker Oct. 9 before closing out the season Oct. 16 at home against Glenwood Springs. Game time will be 7pm.
Cross country
Competing at the Delta Pantherfest XC Invite at Confluence Park in Delta on Sept. 29, several members of the combined Basalt/Roaring Fork cross country team scored top-20 finishes in their respective varsity races.
For the boys, senior Owen Lambert placed fourth overall with a time of 17 minutes, 17.5 seconds over the 5-kilometer distance. Sophomore Towler Scott was 10th in 17:36.1.
And, in the varsity girls 5K race, junior Isabella Moon placed 15th with a time of 21:03.9, followed by junior Morgan Fink in 16th (21:10.2) and Caroline Cole in 19th (21:17.7).
The team is next scheduled to run at the Rifle XC Invitational on Oct. 10 at Rifle Creek Golf Course. Girls toe the start line at 4:40pm, followed by the boys race at 5:20pm.