The Durango High School volleyball team got to play on its newly refinished home court for the first time Tuesday against Farmington.
The Demons started the contest strong and got to game point in the first set, leading the Scorpions 24-21 after an Naomi Rowe served an ace. Farmington, however, rallied to take the first game, 27-25, and then kept the Demons on their heels.
“I felt like in the first set we controlled the tempo,” said DHS head coach Kelley Rifilato. “Then we made a few errors and got frazzled.”
Farmington ended up winning the contest 3-0 with a 25-17 win in the second set and a 25-19 win in the third set.
“Having no seniors is a tough growing pain,” Rifilato said, referring to leadership on the team. “The juniors at this point have to step up and do that.”
For Tuesday’s game, the Demons had more sophomores and freshman in its lineup than juniors.
The first set was close the entire time with only a couple points separating the squads.
A Riley Engle ace put DHS up, 11-7, but Farmington scored the next three points to cut the lead to one.
Later, with the score tied at 15-15, Farmington made a service error and Mason Rowland helped the Demons take advantage of the opportunity, serving four straight points to put DHS up, 20-15.
Durango stayed ahead and got to serve game point, but was unable to close out the contest and Farmington rallied.
In the second set, Farmington took an early 6-2 lead, but Durango rallied to tie it at 7-7. The Scorpions, however, took control of the set after that.
In the third set, the two teams were neck and neck early on, tied at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5. Farmington then took control and went up, 17-10.
Durango made a late comeback to close the gap a little, but was unable to catch the Scorpions.
“Hopefully this was just a speed bump,” Rifilato said. “We’re youthful and made youthful mistakes. We just have to fix some small things.”
The team also had to shuffle its lineup a little with its setter out. Rowe, who normally plays libero for DHS played setter on Tuesday while Brooklyn Messier moved up from junior varsity to play as libero.
“I though Brooklyn did a great job stepping up,” Rifilato said.
Rowland led the team with six kills. Engle and Aava Dreger each had three while many other Demons had two.
The team won’t have to wait long to get a another shot at Farmington. The two teams will have a rematch next Thursday in New Mexico.
The coach said she’s excited for the rematch, but for the girls, trying to keep a positive attitude is the hardest thing after starting 0-2.
colivas@durangoherald.com
