The Durango volleyball team lost its first match at home in almost a month, falling to 3A heavyweight Delta in four sets on Tuesday night.
Delta improved to 16-0 overall, 6-0 in the 3A Western Slope league after winning the first set 28-26, the third set 25-17 and the fourth set 25-20.
The Demons (who took the second set 25-20) fell to 11-5 overall. They are 4-2 in the 4A/5A Southwestern league.
Durango senior middle blocker Sarah Somrak led the Demons with 12 kills, many of them being momentum swingers. Somrak also had an ace and three blocks.
“Sarah is a high-flyer,” Durango coach Kelley Rifilato said. “She touches 10 feet, she really plays high above the net. I don’t think we use her as much as we should even though I know she led us in kills. She also had six errors and the majority of them were on tips. It wasn’t her hitting. She did a good job. Sarah is going to be a tough kid to replace next year because she’s been a four-year starter for us.”
Rifilato was also very impressed with freshman middle blocker Natalie Deming. Two weeks ago, Deming was on the junior varsity squad but was moved up to varsity after star outside hitter senior Aava Dreger, a senior, suffered an injury.
Deming had six kills against Delta.
“She’s done a fantastic job for us having our outside hitter out,” Rifilato said.
The Demons got off to a fast start in the first set, up 4-0. Delta got back into it during the middle of the set, thanks to numerous errors from Durango. The Demons expanded their lead to 17-12 behind back-to-back points, thanks to a powerful kill from Somrak and a spike from junior outside hitter Avery Rike.
Then, Delta’s Sophia Chavez made her mark on the set. The junior outside hitter combined her power and athleticism to get the Panthers back into the game. Delta took its first lead of the set at 23-22. However, Somrak responded with two kills to take back the lead. But the combination of Chavez and the Demons’ errors allowed for Chavez to hit the game-winning point as Delta won the first set 28-26.
Durango opened the second set with an ace from junior defensive specialist Tyler Trujillo. The second set was close throughout until the Demons pulled away at the end. Kills from Somrak, Deming and Rike gave the Demons some breathing room to pull away 25-20 in the second set.
The Demons’ errors cost them in the third and fourth set. Delta got out to a 16-7 lead before a frustrated Rifilato called timeout. Chavez continued to hammer ferocious spikes against Durango’s blockers, which ricocheted out of bounds for Panther points.
“(Chavez) and (Aadrey Fraser) were the only people who got set all night,” Rifilato said. “I knew that from watching film and I told the girls. For whatever reason, we couldn’t stop them defensively, get in front of them. I know the film I watched they haven’t hit up against a block and I thought that was going to be our advantage, but then it was our disadvantage because they were able to hit the ball off the block.”
Chavez’s spike was the final nail in the coffin to give Delta the third set. The fourth set was similar to the third, as Delta got out to a lead thanks to some powerful hits and errors by Durango. Rifilato called a timeout down 17-10. Durango started rallying to make it 20-15, but Delta prevailed to win the fourth set and the match.
“We have to be better than that,” Rifilato said. “We have to eliminate our errors. We need to play fast and we need to have some sort of energy at all times. Tonight, there was no energy on the court.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
