(Andre Lyseight/CHSAANow.com)
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Rock Canyon volleyball, down 2-0, stormed back to beat Mountain Vista on Thursday night.
The Jaguars, ranked No.6 in Class 5A beat No. 4 Mountain Vista 3-2 (18-25, 20-25, 25-17, 25-22, 15-12).
Mountain Vista looked it was getting ready to sweep Rock Canyon in a top 5A matchup. Rock Canyon fought back and prevailed with help from one of their key outside hitters in Keeley Davis, whose kill ended set five with a 15-12 win.
“We played really good besides the two sets,” Davis said. “First set and second set we weren’t really on our game because we knew Mountain Vista was a hard team to play. We knew we couldn’t give up because we had three more sets.”
The final set to win it all generated energy throughout the gym that wasn’t there prior. As the intensity picked up, momentum was no longer a factor for either team. It came down to which team was going to make the right play at the right time.
Rock Canyon and Mountain Vista battled it out, going back and forth. not allowing each other to gain more than a two-point lead. The Jaguars were able to open up the gap with a kill from Davis that forced Golden Eagles to call a timeout.
Rock Canyon came out of the timeout with a nice block and another kill from Davis to end the set, and the match, at 15-12.
“I told them to calm down, relax, and have fun,” said Rock Canyon coach Angela Nylund-Hanson. “This team plays better when they’re having fun and doing it as a team. When they get too nervous and too freaked out that’s when they start playing down. So I told them change it, work at it, and play together and they did it.”
Mountain Vista controlled the first set by playing great defense that resulted in a majority of their points. Rock Canyon struggled to get into any type of rhythm and couldn’t string together enough points in a row to make a factor. The Golden Eagles gave up some points with bad serves but that didn’t hurt too much as the finished the set out 25-18.
In the second set, the Golden Eagles continued to display impressive defense at the net. Mountain Vista was able to go on three different 4-0 runs it gave them a comfortable lead throughout the set.
The Jaguars responded with a 4-0 run that put the score at 21-18, forcing Mountain Vista to call a timeout. Mountain Vista, too, had an answer in the form of a powerful strike from junior outside hitter Alyssa Oswald that gave them momentum to win the set 25-20.
Rock Canyon on the verge of getting swept and had to make a statement. Jaguars got on a 4-0 run and followed up with the biggest run of the match with eight unanswered points. Davis scored points by serving the ball in perfect spots that Mountain Vista couldn’t get to quick enough.
“I think some of the serves Keeley got in the third set really pulled us forward,” said Nylund-Hanson.
The set that tied it up was much like the previous for Rock Canyon, which got on an early streak. Mountain Vista forced a timeout from the Jaguars when it got in to reaching distance at 19-18. Once again, Davis helped her team gain momentum with a clutch kill that brought the score to 23-21 eventually finishing it out 25-23.
Mountain Vista coach Doug Schafer, though disappointed by the loss, believed his team played well but just let the match get away from them.
“We played well, we fought every point,” Schafer said. “Even points that we didn’t get, we really fought on. We had a great dig or great block and they just happened to get that point. It was even pretty much the whole game and I believe it was just a handful of point that turned the tie.”