Roaring Fork High School’s girls volleyball team was unable to continue its run of recent success against Aspen on the home court Tuesday night, dropping a tight 3-2 match.
Coming into the night having won six of their last seven games, the Rams (9-11 overall, 4-4 in 3A Western Slope League play) came out flat, dropping the first set 16-25 before earning 25-20 and 25-19 wins in the second and third sets.
The match essentially came down to the fourth set, where the Rams opened strong, taking a 7-2 lead and holding the edge until the Skiers tied it at 12-12.
A back-and-forth dual ensued, with the Rams battling back from a 24-21 deficit behind some scrappy play and a monster kill from junior Yaki Hernandez to tie it at 24-all.
The Skiers earned the final two points to close it out, though, and Roaring Fork couldn’t quite regroup, falling behind early in the tiebreaker set and ultimately losing 15-10.
Hernandez finished with an unofficial tally of nine kills for the match, while junior Nikki Tardif had 10. Freshman Clover Hansen had seven kills and was in on multiple blocks alongside Tardif and senior Liz Fullerton.
In other action this past week, the Rams swept Olathe on the road 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-17), before going 2-1 at a weekend tournament at Battle Mountain; defeating Soroco and Aspen by scores of 2-1 and 2-0, before falling to the host Huskies 2-0.
Football
Roaring Fork’s football team improved to 3-4 overall and picked up its first 1A Western Slope League win (now 1-2) last Friday night at Olathe. The Rams defeated the Pirates 33-12.
A big third quarter saw the Rams score 20 unanswered points after Olathe had pulled to within one point, 13-12, at halftime.
A position switch between senior Hunter Noll, who returned to action following a knee injury the prior week, and junior Kenny Riley, proved fruitful.
Noll moved to the quarterback position, while Riley lined up at wide receiver. It’s a combination Rams head coach Scott Noll (Hunter’s dad) said he expects to stay with, as it resulted in a big passing touchdown for the duo, a 30-yard strike from Hunter to Riley in the third quarter to make it 33-12.
Earlier in the game, the Noll brothers, Hunter and junior Ben, connected for a 4-yard touchdown completion to put the Rams on the scoreboard in the first quarter.
Junior Donny Read picked up 122 yards rushing on 14 carries, and junior AJ McDermott rushed for 36 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown scramble in the first quarter.
The Rams’ other touchdown came in the third quarter when junior Elli Norris intercepted an Olathe pass and returned it 60 yards for the score.
Tough defense had a huge impact on the outcome for the Rams. Senior Balaram Koss recorded 13 total tackles (six solo and seven assisted), and Read was in on 11 tackles (six solo, five assists). McDermott also had a fumble recovery for the Rams.
Win out over the next two weeks, and the Rams could find themselves in the state playoffs. The top 16 teams for 1A are in. Roaring Fork is currently ranked 25th.
The schedule takes the Rams on the road to play Cedaredge (4-3, 1-2) on Friday, Oct. 25. They bring it home for senior night against North Fork on Friday, Nov. 1 (7pm kickoff).
Of note, the Basalt High School football team remains undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the state among Class 2A teams at 7-0, and is in the driver’s seat for another West League title at 3-0. The Longhorns defeated Moffat County 48-7 last week, and are at Middle Park this Friday before closing out at home against Aspen on Nov. 1 (7pm kickoff).
Soccer
Roaring Fork’s boys soccer team, coming into the week ranked third among 3A teams in the state, fell at 4A Montrose 4-3 in a non-league game on Tuesday night.
The Rams have won the 3A Western Slope League title by virtue of Vail Mountain suffering losses to Aspen and Rifle last week.
Now 8-3-2 overall, 5-0-1 league, the Rams host Vail Mountain this Thursday, Oct. 24, and close out the regular season with senior night on Friday against cross-town rivals CRMS. Varsity game time is 6pm both nights at Rams Field.
Mountain biking
Colorado Rocky Mountain School won the Division 1 state mountain biking championship on Sunday, Oct. 20, as teams from CRMS and Roaring Fork High School competed at the Colorado High School Cycling League Championships at the Spring Valley CMC campus.
In the varsity boys race, CRMS senior Canyon Cherney was fourth overall in the three-lap race with a time of 1 hour, 11 minutes and 21.82 seconds. CRMS senior Lucas Berry was close behind in fifth in 1:11:43.4, and Roaring Fork junior Quinn Carpenter was 14th in 1:14.
In the varsity girls race, CRMS junior Hazel Lazar was fourth in 1:27.
Roaring Fork also had top-25 finishers in Saturday’s JV and freshman boys races. Senior Emerson Kennedy was 24th in the two-lap JV race (53:32.8), and freshman Levi Friday was 14th in his race (54:44.8).
