More photos. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
COLORADO SPRINGS — Cheyenne Mountain coach David Barkley knows that he doesn’t have the experience this year as he did on his 2015 Class 4A state championship team. So he has to measure success very differently.
The most important thing to see from his current set of Indians is if they were able to improve through the course of a game.
So while a 25-23, 25-17 and 25-22 win over 5A’s ninth-ranked Coronado might seem like they’re right on pace to contend for another title, Barkley knows that his team still has a ton of work to do to once again reign over the 4A field.
“Every win is going to make us better,” Barkley said. “But the thing we measure early in the season is did we get better playing today. What did we do better? Now what do we improve on?”
How about taking care of a primary offensive threat, not just for the Cougars (9-3 overall) but perhaps maybe in the entire 5A Colorado Springs Metro League.
Mara Abernathy came into the game with 116 kills, but could not find a rhythm against the Indians (5-3). Knowing he couldn’t shut her down, Barkley tried to do everything he could to contain her and his players were able to do just that.
“Mara’s an amazing middle (blocker),” Ellie Gubser said. “She’s very strong, her hits are good, her blocks are good. So we wanted to make sure we were on top of her when she was hitting and and stay away from her on the sets that we chose.”
And offensively the Indians were able to successfully get the balls to their main offensive weapons. Gubsuer connected on 10 kills while Casey Ahrendsen led the team with 12.
More photos. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
The Cougars showed early that they were not going to be an easy team for Cheyenne Mountain as they were to stay neck and neck for the first set before the Indians pulled away.
Cheyenne Mountain then jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the second set and were able to keep the Cougars at bay to take a 2-0 lead.
It looked like the Indians were going to cruise in the third set, jumping out to a 8-2 lead, but the Cougars began to show some resolve, battling back to tie it up at 13 apiece. Coronado would eventually take a 21-20 lead, but the Indians battled back to win it 25-22, a sight that Barkley was very pleased with.
“What helped us tonight was there were times where they charged and took a lead,” Barkley said. “We were able to settle down and take it back and that’s the sign of a team that knows how to compete.”
But they were far from satisfied with the win. Despite seeing plenty of good things coming out of the game, Cheyenne Mountain knows there are still areas to work on in order to successfully defend a state title.
“Our covering is something that we need to work on the most,” Ahrendsen said. “There are a lot of balls that went short and we weren’t ready for it. Each time that happens, it’s something that we need to improve on immensely and it’s going to help us in the future.”
For the Cougars, it was a good a chance to solidify themselves as a volleyball powerhouse in Colorado Springs. While coach Stormie Wells knows there is no shame in losing to a team like Cheyenne Mountain, she wants her team to be ready to seize their opportunities early.
“We need to start ready to play,” she said. “I feel like maybe we really weren’t ready to play and our first contact wasn’t there tonight.”
The Cougars had won seven straight games coming into Thursday. They’ll look to start a new streak when they travel to Pine Creek next week.