The Durango High School volleyball team closed out play in the 5A/4A Southwestern League with a four-set win against Montrose Saturday afternoon at DHS.
The Demons (13-5, 6-2 5A/4A Southwestern League) cruised through the first set with a 25-12 win before dropping the second set to Montrose (8-10, 2-5 SWL) 19-25. The second-set loss carried over to the third set, until the Demons mounted a massive comeback to win 25-23.
“We played well today and had an incredible 15-point comeback in the third set to take a 2-1 lead,” DHS head coach Colleen Vogt said. “It was really fun and the girls continued to show this team’s resiliency and desire to win.”
Durango went on to win the fourth set 25-19.
Durango finished the season 6-2 in league play to finish second in the standings behind Fruita Monument, which went 8-0.
The Demons turned in another great and well balanced match on defense with four different players recording 15 or more digs. Sophomore Millie O’Ketter led the defense with 30 digs, Brett Rowland finished with 24, Ally Snow had 21 and Lana Razma added 17.
Rowland led the Demons offensive attack with 14 kills while Brianna Brown dished out 32 assists.
Durango had 16 aces, with Razma and Snow each recording four aces each.
The Demons will have one more home game and will host Bayfield (12-6) in a nonleague match on Tuesday night. Durango held a 2-0 lead before the Wolverines took the next three sets to win in five on Sept. 26 in Bayfield.
Currently ranked 12th in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s RPI rankings, and a win against the Wolverines could go a long way in helping the Demons stay in that No. 12 spot.
“We’re looking forward to playing Bayfield on our senior night,” Vogt said. “We just talked about how it’s not about our opponent but about peaking and playing our best volleyball at the right time. We’re really pushing to be a top-12 team in 4A so we can host a regional.”
The Bobcats wrapped up the regular season at Ridgway and came up on the wrong end of a 3-0 match.
Ignacio fell to Ridgway 25-20, 25-23 and 25-21 to finish the regular season 8-11 overall and 7-6 in the 2A/1A San Juan Basin League.
Dolores leads the league with a perfect 13-0 record in league games. Ridway is second at 10-3, Telluride is third at 8-5, and the Bobcats sit fourth at 7-6. Mancos (2-10) and Norwood (1-12) are at the bottom of the league standings.
Next for the Bobcats is the San Juan Basin District 3 tournament next weekend.
kschneider@gmail.com
