Rams volleyball tunes up for league season with some tournament action

Roaring Fork High School’s ladies volleyball team had the opportunity to fine tune things against some higher-classification competition at the Glenwood Springs Demon Invitational last weekend.

The short-game (best of three sets) tournament format saw the Class 3A Rams emerge with a 2-1 win (25-19, 17-25, 15-8) on Saturday morning against 4A Weld Central, before dropping a 2-0 decision (16-25, 9-25) to 4A Steamboat Springs to end the tournament.

On Friday, Roaring Fork fell to another pair of tough 4A teams, 2-0 (24-26, 8-25) to Mullen, and 2-0 (21-25, 14-15) to intradistrict rival Glenwood Springs.

“It was really a great thing for us to experience, especially against Glenwood with the big gym crowd and student section,” veteran Rams coach Karen Crownhart said. “I do think it shows us we can compete and play against these bigger teams, it’s just a matter of realizing that they can.”

After battling back from a 10-point deficit in set one against Glenwood Friday evening, Crownhart said her team gained some confidence to take into the morning match against Weld.

“It was a great game for us, and it gave us a chance to play some more kids and fine tune some things,” she said. “I feel like this team is very capable of playing with anyone.”

Senior Ruby Denning and sophomore Yakelin Nunez Hernandez both finished the weekend with 10 kills, while junior setter Carley Crownhart had nine kills and assisted on 26 points.

Junior libero Erica Crownhart served for 21 points and also had 21 digs through four games. 

Sophomore frontliner Nikki Tardif recorded four blocks and served for six points; senior Fernanda Ruiz served for nine points; and junior Elizabeth Fullerton served for eight points.

The Rams, now 2-3 on the season, were to host intradistrict and 3A rival the Basalt Longhorns for a non-league contest Wednesday evening (results not available by publication deadline), and are set to play another road tournament at Southern Routt (Soroco) this Saturday, with first-round games against Moffat County and Gilpin County. Also playing in the tournament are Soroco, Calhan and Baggs (Wyoming).

Upcoming schedule: 

Monday, Sept. 11 —
Home vs. Vail Mountain, 5pm

Tuesday, Sept. 19 —
At Delta for the 3A Western Slope League opener, 6pm 

Soccer readies for home opener

The Roaring Fork boys soccer team was idle this past week, but continues its 3A WSL slate at 6pm Thursday against Gunnison at Rams Stadium, next to Carbondale Middle School.

Upcoming schedule:

Saturday, Sept. 9 —
At 3A powerhouse Liberty Common, 3pm

Tuesday, Sept. 12 —
At CRMS, 4pm

Thursday, Sept. 14 —
Home vs. Coal Ridge, 6pm

JV football wins at Summit

Roaring Fork football, playing at the Class 1A junior varsity level only this season, started strong on Aug. 29 with a 36-0 win at Summit High in Frisco.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Rams got on the board with a touchdown and 2-point conversion in the second, before blowing it open in the third quarter with 28 unanswered points to earn the shutout win.

Roaring Fork (1-0) hosts Basalt (1-1) for a JV contest at 4pm on Monday, Sept. 11 at Rams Stadium.

Playing for Glenwood Springs High this season, several varsity level players from Roaring Fork shined in a dominating 26-8 win at Conifer last Friday.

Senior Max Bollock rushed for 22 yards and passed for another 18 yards in relief of starting quarterback Joaquin Sandoval. Junior Hunter Noll had 27 receiving yards and sophomore Zack Bollock rushed for two yards and had 39 receiving yards for the Demons, who improved to 3-0 on the season.

Class 3A Glenwood Springs hosts cross-county rival and 2A powerhouse Rifle at 7pm Friday at Stubler Memorial Field. Basalt is also off to a strong start in its 2A League football title defense, following wins over Buena Vista (33-14), Eagle Valley (49-15) and Summit (28-0). The Longhorns face the Demons at 7pm Friday, Sept. 15 in Glenwood Springs, in what should prove to be a competitive game.