(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
MANITOU SPRINGS — In a match that always proves to be an intense battle, Colorado Springs Christian School went with precision over strength.
That game plan paid off as the Lions came away with a 25-19, 14-25, 25-22, 25-20 win over Manitou Springs to seize control of the Class 3A Tri-Peaks League.
The formula was really quite simple. The 3A No. 7-ranked Lions limited their mistakes and with tips and dumps, placed the ball exactly where the No. 6 Mustangs would have trouble playing it.
“We definitely practiced that all day yesterday in preparation for this,” CSCS senior Christa Vogt said. “We wanted to put it where we knew their weak spots were and where we thought our strong spots could be.”
They played a clean game and attacked the Mustangs with precision strikes rather than jaw-dropping kills.
“We’ve been working on being precise,” Lions coach Lori Currier said. “In fact, it’s a word that’s been used in the locker room, along with consistent, and the girls were all that tonight for sure.”
The Lions (10-1 overall, 7-0 Tri-Peaks) took control early in the first set, grabbing a 12-6 lead before it appeared Manitou (11-2, 6-1) was able to settle into the match.
Even though the Mustangs dropped the first set, their short rally at the end provided a needed spark that erupted into a full-blown fire in the second set.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Riding the strong hits of senior outside hitting Giulia Vidossi, the Mustangs cruised to a 25-14 win to even the match at one set apiece. The Mustangs looked comfortable at that point and had seemed to settle into a style of play that suited their lineup.
“I think the first set we didn’t serve receive very well from the get-go,” Manitou coach Jane Squires said. “In the second set we serve received very well and we moved the ball around well. In the third set we went back into that serve receive slump. We talked about that was a lot of (the problem).”
It was a problem. The Mustangs’ inability to handle serves in the third and fourth set left the players scrambling on defense far too often. It seemed that each potential rally from the Mustangs ended with an unforced error, something Squires said was very uncharacteristic of her team.
“We haven’t seen many of those unforced errors,” she said. “We’ll work on it tomorrow, go back to blocking, that kind of stuff. Really just go back to funadmentals.”
Meanwhile, the Lions were able to take advantage of the Manitou errors and build their leads throughout the final two sets. And when the time came to serve the ball up for their big hitters, the shots were well-timed and placed in the right spot.
Jubilee Diamond led the Lions with 14 kills and Abby Miller added 10. But perhaps the most important stat of the night were the seven and a half blocks from the front line. CSCS fought back the multi-layered attack of Vidossi, McKayla Cully and Kylie Middleton.
After the Mustangs claimed the second set, they knew Vidossi had to be the main focus and it was a challenge they were more than eager to take on.
“There was a lot of encouragement in the huddle that this was our job to shut her down,” Vogt said. “The blockers are responsible for her and only her right now. That was our only focus in that match.”
That and adding a precise offensive attack to compliment the defense. Precision was the name of the game and because of that, the Lions have firm control of the Tri-Peaks League.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)