Lady Mustangs have 17-2 record

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photo by Mike Wilson | Mikayla Shearer with another winning move during the hard fought game, which saw the West Grand Mustangs take the win over the SoRoCo Rams in five sets. The Mustangs enter post season play ranked 7th in the State, at the Western Slope League Tournament in Meeker this Friday and Saturday.
photo by Mike Wilson | Mikayla Shearer with another winning move during the hard fought game, which saw the West Grand Mustangs take the win over the SoRoCo Rams in five sets. The Mustangs enter post season play ranked 7th in the State, at the Western Slope League Tournament in Meeker this Friday and Saturday.

by Kim Bodemann

The Lady Mustangs Volleyball finished their regular season over the weekend taking second place behind Meeker in league play and have a 17-2 record.

West Grand traveled to Soroco on Friday night to battle the Rams in a match that went to five sets. The Mustangs started slow and lost the first set 15-25. Inset two, the team played a more solid game and played scrappy and took the win, 25-18.

Soroco jumped out to a 0-8 lead to start the next set and continued to build on it. After WG took their second timeout at 8-16, the girls started to get their momentum going and closed the gap and tied the game at 22. But the Rams took the next three points and the set, 22-25. Set four started with points being traded back and forth until the midway point when the Mustangs started to gain a small advantage and won 25-21. Game five did not disappoint as both teams played hard with nobody taking a big advantage, however late in the game the Mustangs found themselves down 11-13, at this point the team took control and scored the next four points and the league victory. This was truly a team win, as everyone got to play, and played well when their number was called. There were some long volleys and some scrappy play throughout this match, which is fun, but our team has got to find a way, to get themselves going and stay excited during the entire match.
In the match, senior Emma DeSanti lead the attack with 11 kills, had four blocks, 26 digs, and 12 assists. Sophomore Alex Schake was very busy in the back row with 34 digs, was 100% on the line with 15 serves, and added six kills. Sophomore Maddy Probst also had six kills along with three aces, and 15 digs. Senior Mikayla Shearer had 22 digs, four blocks, five kills, and 10 serves to hit 100%. Junior Josy Wheatley registered two aces and eight assists as Senor Charish Jansen had six assists on the night.

The C team won in two sets, 25-22 and 28-26 as well as did the JV team, 25-18 and 25-21.

Saturday in Paonia was another barn burner for all three levels. The Mustangs seemed ready to play as they stepped on the court and took the early lead to slowly let the Eagles back into the game. At 20-19, WG went on a five-point run with DeSanti serving and finished the set 25-19. To start set two the girls fell behind early started working their way back, took the lead by two but then let Paonia go on an eight-point run, three servers later going on for the Eagle win, 19-25. The Mustangs looked to control set three as they were playing some solid volleyball and the lead, 18-9. But WG started making errors and let the Eagles gain momentum and get back in the game. WG went on to finish the set, 25-21. Set four went to Paonia 18-25. In another nail bitter, the final set was a true battle, not only the physical part but the mental game as well. The teams exchanged points and lead many times throughout this match especially starting at the 11-12 mark until the point when the Mustangs came out on top with the 20-18 victory. These two wins, in such tight matches, we’re good for the girls as they know to not give up and that they can battle and finish with the win! We do have to get off the roller coaster and put the complete game together for its entirety.

Finishing the match with 17 kills and 22 digs was Schake. DeSanti finished with 23 digs, 14 assists, and 11 kills, and three blocks. This is DeSanti’s fifth triple-double of the season. Shearer added seven kills, two blocks, 27 digs. Lechman picked up 26 digs as Probst added 23 digs. Registering 12 assists, and 19 digs of her own was Wheatley. Four girls were 100% at the service line, Wheatley (22 times), Shearer (13 times), DeSanti (23 times), and Junior Iliana Castillo (one time). As a team, they served 107 times with only five errors, 95.3%.

The C team started slow, after the long bus ride but took their match 13-25, 26-24, 15-3 and were undefeated on the season 5-0. The JV team also finished their season with a win in three sets, 21-25, 25-22, 15-13 and had a winning season with a 10-4 record.

The Mustangs will travel to Meeker for a two-day League Tournament this Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1 and 2. The league has already been decided but this is more of a season-ending tournament that teams hope to maintain or improve their RPI as teams fight to make or host a regional tournament next weekend. WG will play Vail Mountain first at approximately 4:00 p.m. and play again around 7:00 p.m. against Paonia. On Saturday, they take on Meeker first at 11:30 a.m. and following up against Vail Christian close to 2:30 p.m.