Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Boring isn’t a word used to describe what it’s like watching a high school volleyball game between Aspen and Basalt this season.
After rallying from down two sets for a 3-2 road win on Sept. 24, the Skiers leaned on an early lead in Thursday’s rematch, ultimately holding on for a 3-2 win inside the AHS gymnasium.
“It’s always fun to play them,” said AHS head coach David Chadbourne, who formerly coached at Basalt. “The girls, they know each other off the court, and they are friends, and when they get on the court, they want to beat each other, obviously. It’s always a battle. We knew it was going to be a battle coming into it, but it was fun to come out with a win on senior night for Lindsay (Waldeck).”
After a short pre-game senior ceremony centered on Waldeck, the young Skiers went to work and easily won the first set. It was back-and-forth from there, with Basalt talking the second set, AHS again cruising in the third set, and the Longhorns holding on in the fourth set to again force a decisive fifth set against their rivals.
“It’s always a fun time playing Aspen. They are a good team. They played their hearts out. But don’t count our girls out,” BHS coach Naomi Santiago said. “They really wanted the win, but unfortunately, sometimes it just doesn’t go in our favor. But it’s OK — they played a hard game, and I’m really proud of how they played.”
Aspen controlled much of the fifth set, but Basalt had a late push and made the Skiers work for it, but ultimately AHS held on, 15-13, for the season sweep of the Longhorns.
The last time out, Aspen also needed five sets in a 3-2 win at Roaring Fork on Tuesday.
“That’s what’s really different about this group of girls is when I started working with them, they might have folded after being down two sets, but they are becoming very scrappy and diligent, and they can get the job done in a fifth set,” Chadbourne said. “It puts a lot of stress on me — taking some years off my life. But we are getting the job done at the end of the day, which is fun.”
Aspen, now 11-9 overall, still has two games remaining in the regular season. After hosting Forge Christian at 1 p.m., Saturday, the Skiers will have a week off before the finale at home against Moffat County on Nov. 2.
As the CHSAANow.com seeding index, which determines the playoff bracket, sat on Friday afternoon, Aspen remained just inside the cutoff to make regional play, meaning the postseason seems likely for the Skiers.
“It’s looking pretty good,” Chadbourne affirmed. “We are looking forward to going down to the Front Range this year with this particular team because they compete well with teams that are really good and fluid, and it’s going to be fun to see how they respond when we go down there.”
While Aspen was ranked No. 28 in the seeding index on Friday, Basalt was No. 51 and well outside the 36-team regional cutoff. Now 3-10 overall, the Longhorns have virtually no chance to make the regional field, but Santiago still wants to see the team perform well this week to build toward next fall.
Basalt still has a week of play remaining, next being a home game with Soroco at 1 p.m., Saturday.
“I would like to get some wins in our next few games,” Santiago said. “We’ve struggled a little this season. I would like to end the season on a positive note. I want the girls to enjoy the last week we are together, but also let’s leave the season with a couple of wins for morale, for our own pride, and to be ready for next year.”
Aspen girls, Basalt’s Scott shine at regional cross country
Regional cross country was held on Friday in Fraser, and both Aspen and Basalt had a strong showing and will send runners to the Nov. 2 state finale in Colorado Springs.
For the girls, Aspen won the team title with 53 points to earn one of the four automatic team qualifiers. In second was Coal Ridge (64), followed by Basalt (70) and D’Evelyn (109).
Individually, Coal Ridge sophomore Effie Fletcher won the girls race in 20 minutes, 20.4 seconds. In second was Aspen senior Julia Diaz in 21:09.6. AHS sophomore Annabelle Case was fourth in 21:50.6; BHS senior Isabella Moon was seventh in 21:55.5; BHS junior Addison Raymond was eighth in 22:02.2; and BHS junior Caroline Cole was 10th in 22:22.
For the boys, Aspen finished fourth as a team with 109 points to just sneak inside the automatic team qualifying cutoff. D’Evelyn won with 44 points, followed by runner-up Coal Ridge (58) and third-placed Moffat County (67). Basalt was sixth (162) and did not qualify for state as a team.
Individually, however, Basalt junior Towler Scott paced the field to earn his own route to state, winning the boys race in 18:02.1. Coal Ridge’s Jake Curt was second in 18:17.2, and Aspen sophomore Jack Diaz was third in 18:18.4.
The official list of all state qualifiers will be announced on Monday.