ARVADA — Evergreen volleyball turned to its sister tandem of Claudia and Hayley Dillon to seal an impressive road victory Thursday night.
Claudia, senior and University of Missouri commit, and junior Hayley combined for a dozen kills and a couple of key blocks in the decisive 27-25 fourth-set victory for the Cougars (3-2 record).
Evergreen senior Claudia Dillon (15) puts down a spike over Ralston Valley’s Taylor Scherff (17) and Laurel Kelly. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“We didn’t say anything like get us (Dillon sisters) the ball, but I think everyone knows if Hayley or myself, or anyone else, get on a roll to just go to them,” Claudia said after the Cougars’ 3-1 victory. “Hayley was unstoppable on the front row. Once either of us got to the front row they just fed us the ball.”
Ralston Valley (2-2) actually grabbed a 25-17 first-set win to start off the non-league match against Evergreen, ranked No. 8 in the latest Class 4A volleyball CHSAANow.com poll. The Mustangs were led by seniors Natasha Eberle, Madeline Fitchett and junior Laurel Kelly in the opening set.
First-year coach Jess Sponenberg had the Mustangs off to a great start, but Evergreen won the next three sets 25-22, 25-18 and 27-25 to get the win.
“We’ve been working really hard on keeping other teams’ runs to a minimum,” Evergreen’s first-year coach Gail Andrews said. “That was really our focus in practice all week. I think that really helped us tonight.”
The domination up front and powerful spikes by Claudia and Hayley in the final three sets really changed the momentum. However, it took a full team effort to hold off Ralston Valley from forcing a fifth set.
On the final point Evergreen senior Skylar Gale’s serve eventually found the hand of Ralston Valley junior Marisa Jergensen for a spike attempt from the outside. Evergreen junior Gillian Hoerman was able block Jergensen’s hit to end the match.
Evergreen senior Skylar Gale hits a serve during the Cougars’ 3-1 victory over Ralston Valley. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“If you let those runs get too big you are kind of out of the game. We wanted to stop those runs and get a couple of our own,” Claudia said of the final set. “It was probably tighter than I would have liked it to be, but it was fun to see everyone pushed to the edge.”
Evergreen setter Katie Hays did a nice job getting the likes of Gabby Clark and Hoerman involved on the outside, but when the Cougars needed to get a critical point they looked to the Dillon sisters.
“We’ve got to keep moving the ball around or else we’ll get predictable. We’ve got a lot of good hitters,” Andrews said of getting everyone involved on the court. “A lot of the time we can count on Claudia and Hayley to get the job done, but I can say that about almost all my hitters.”
It was the first road victory for Evergreen on the season. The Cougars dropped non-league games against (4A) No. 5 Erie and (5A) No. 8 Chatfield last week.
“We are ready for league to start,” Claudia said as Evergreen heads to the Spartan Challenge this weekend before opening 4A Jeffco League play Sept. 11 against Wheat Ridge.
Ralston Valley hits the road to face Denver East next week on Sept. 11 before gearing up for its 5A Jeffco League opener Sept. 20 against rival Pomona.
Evergreen junior Gabby Clark (7) drive a hit between Ralston Valley’s Natasha Eberle (11) and Jamie Dorczuk (16) on Thursday night. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)