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Cards sweep host Bears

Jeff Caspersen
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
Jeff Caspersen Post Independent
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RIFLE, Colorado – It’s taken some time, but Grand Valley volleyball senior Jazmin McFarland feels like her Cardinals are finally beginning to realize their potential.

“We have a lot of talent, a lot of potential,” she said. “It’s just too bad we couldn’t put it together sooner. We’re definitely getting there.”

McFarland and the Cardinals showed promise on Tuesday, improving to 4-10 overall and to 4-9 in the 3A Western Slope League with a 25-17, 25-23, 25-23 win at Rifle.



McFarland’s six kills and 10 digs led the way for Grand Valley. Kristen Schubert chipped in with five kills and Jordan Steinke swatted three kills as the Cardinals won their second straight match. Tarianna Lawrence finished with 13 assists.

Grand Valley cruised to victory in Tuesday’s opening game, using a 5-0 run to break an 8-all tie. From there, the Bears never threatened.



The second and third games were much closer.

The Cardinals rallied from a 21-17 deficit to escape with a win in the second. A Rocio Roman kill polished off the victory.

In the third game, Grand Valley jumped out to an 8-3 lead before Rifle tightened things up with a rally. The Bears hung around the rest of the way before a Schubert kill broke a 23-all tie and a Steinke serve brought the match to an end.

Heather Maynard’s five kills paced Rifle, which dropped to 2-11 overall and to 2-10 in the 3A WSL. Kimmie Rausin and Carly Bare finished with three kills apiece and Ashley Rickstrew and Maynard each had eight digs.

The Bears, who lost their setter to surgery last week, have had to make some offensive adjustments over the past week. They’re still working out the kinks, coach Erin Reider said.

“We had mix up our offense and bring a girl up from JV and get her trained in two days,” the coach relayed. “We’re just adjusting. I felt tonight we played as a team much more so than we did over the weekend. We’re still struggling to get the new offense.”

Rifle dropped a pair of home matches – one to Basalt and one to Aspen – on Saturday.

Like the Bears, the Cardinals are still fighting to put it all together as the season winds down. On Tuesday, it worked out for them.

“I think we just stayed positive, for the most part,” McFarland said. “We tried to keep up, even though we had our mistakes. We did what we could to come back when we were down and we mostly just kept our heads up and we stayed together.”

jcaspersen@postindependent.com


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