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Volleyball Demons win fourth straight

Jeff Caspersen
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
Kelley Cox Post Independent
ALL |

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado – Lexie Warkentin says she’s still regaining strength in her right elbow, on which she had Tommy John reconstructive surgery back on March 2.

Watching her swat the volleyball to the floor on Saturday, you wouldn’t have known she’s not at full strength.

Behind nine kills from the hard-hitting senior, Glenwood Springs rolled to a 25-19, 25-21, 25-23 win over visiting Moffat County.



Like Warkentin, who’s spent the past seven months rehabilitating her elbow, the Demons are in the midst of rehabilitating what appeared to be a lost season. Saturday’s win was the team’s fourth straight.

Glenwood is now 9-8 overall and 4-6 in 4A Western Slope League. The Demons sit fifth in the league standings. The top five teams in the league advance to the district round of the state playoffs.



“We’ve finally found our groove,” Warkentin said. “We’re playing more together and finding out each other’s strengths and weaknesses and working around them.”

As for Warkentin, she’s finding her groove on the health front. She began the season swinging left-handed and has since been cleared to go 100 percent with her right arm.

“I don’t have all my strength, but I can hit 100 percent, the doctor said,” she relayed. “I don’t have all my strength back, but I’m working on it. It gets better every day, but diving still scares me.”

Warkentin suffered her elbow injury last volleyball season, but still managed to play through the basketball season. She went under the knife once basketball ended.

“It’s been a long process,” she said. “There’s not really any pain, just maybe a little bit of aching here and there.”

And her presence is certainly paying off for Glenwood, which is hitting its stride at the perfect time.

On Saturday, the Demons jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first game and coasted.

The second and third games were much tighter, with a collective 20 tie counts making for a pair of dramatic finishes.

Sarah Davis sent a kill shot off a Bulldog defender to close out the second game and Delaney Gaddis found open floor with a cross-court kill to finish off Moffat County in the third.

Davis finished with eight kills for surging Glenwood. Mikaela Richardson chipped in with five kills – all coming in the third game.

Abby Russell and Gaddis racked up 14 assists apiece and Warkentin led the way on defense with 16 digs. Rachel Rosenberg and Taylor James each had 10 digs.

“They’ve just decided they’ve got nothing to lose,” Demons coach Sarah Ryan said of her squad. “It’s been working so far.”

Makayla Camilletti’s six kills led the Bulldogs, who dipped to 4-11 overall and to 1-8 in league play. Heather Jenkins and Morgan Knob smashed five kills apiece.

“They fought hard,” Moffat County coach Sandy Camilletti said. “We needed to block a little better. I didn’t think we got our hands on many blocks.”

Next up for the Bulldogs is a home date with neighboring rival Steamboat Springs on Thursday.

Glenwood Springs closes out its regular season with a visit from Palisade on Thursday and a trip to Delta on Saturday.

jcaspersen@postindependent.com


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