FREDERICK — The season is shorter and girls volleyball teams haven’t played each other in a year and a half, so every squad in Colorado is trying its best to learn its identity as quickly as possible.
On Tuesday night, the Frederick Warriors found out they can win close matches.
Despite the result being a 3-1 victory over Fort Morgan, the Warriors spent much of Tuesday’s 25-19, 25-22, 29-31, 25-22 home match clawing their way back from behind after winning the first two sets. The third set went well into overtime and the Warriors were down 21-15 in the fourth before storming back on an inspired run to close out their second win of Season C.
“The first two sets went smooth and then in the third set, we were like, ‘Oh crap’,” Warriors junior Kinley Lindhardt said. “But we pulled it together and I’m really proud of us to shift our energy for that fourth set because that’s a hard thing to do. This was our first really tough match and it shows that we’re capable of pulling ourselves out of a hole and win in situations like that.”
Lindhardt led the Warriors (2-0) with 10 kills, unofficially. Kenna Tarnowski had a team-high nine blocks. Kendal Rivera had 19 digs. Ashley Livingston finished with 34 assists.
While the Warriors poured on the offense, the Mustangs (1-1) countered with excellent defense that kept them in the match.
Frederick junior right side Evelyn Arroyo also left with a concussion midway through the match, forcing the Warriors out of their rhythm momentarily until they were able to regain the momentum.
“We knew this was going to be tough,” Warriors head coach Suzanne Robison said. “I know coach (Marcy) Wolff really well and we talked about how we knew this was going to be a tight match. Nobody has film on anybody because we haven’t played each other for a year and a half, so we don’t know each other.
“The momentum in volleyball swings so fast and they’re a great team. We had to make some adjustments on the fly and we were able to finish strong.”
The Warriors, who went 11-12 last season, have now won their last four matches against Fort Morgan and were victors in seven of the series’ last nine meetings.
The Warriors were scheduled to play Mountain View on Thursday, but the Mountain Lions are in quarantine. Therefore, it may be into next week before Frederick begins the Longs Peak League portion of its schedule.
