STEAMBOAT SPRINGS – Preparations to win the league title and beyond began in June for the Glenwood Springs volleyball team. Thursday, the Demons took an important step toward capturing the Western Slope championship with a 25-23, 25-17, 25-23 victory in Steamboat Springs.”We’ve been playing together so long,” senior Alex Raab said. “I feel like this is one of our strongest teams. We knew this was going to be a good game, and we had to be ready.”The Sailors (9-3) and Demons (11-0) have emerged as the two favorites to contend for the Western Slope title, and coaches and players from both Steamboat and Glenwood realized Thursday’s match would be the toughest of the league season to date for both squads.The Demons held the lead nearly wire-to-wire in all three games, but the Sailors made the straight-set victory tougher than perhaps Glenwood would have desired.The Demons missed 13 serves on Thursday. Under Colorado’s new rally scoring rules, a missed serve is a point for the opponent, and Glenwood’s poor serving and unforced errors, particularly in Game 3, allowed Steamboat to move from a 12-17 deficit to a 22-21 lead.Demons coach Denise Greene called a timeout, and Glenwood scored the final four points of the game, and subsequently the match, after the break in action.”We made way too many mistakes, and we’ll leave it at that,” Greene said.Senior Amber Sutherland led Glenwood with 12 kills. Sophomore Leanna Lawson had five kills for the Demons.Glenwood displayed a balance on offense that prevented Steamboat from establishing much of a blocking presence at the net Thursday night. However, the Sailors, boasting a completely new starting lineup this season, displayed some of the intensity and spark coach Wendy Hall said was missing during the past several weeks.”What I most wanted from (Thursday) was to see the girls play with determination and heart and maintain focus,” Hall said. “I saw glimpses of that (Thursday). They dug themselves out of holes every game. It’s unfortunate we spotted them six or seven points, but to come back says something. It’s hard to come back against a great team like Glenwood.”The Sailors missed six serves themselves and committed 21 hitting errors during the match, making it difficult to establish a lead and build upon it Thursday.”We know we can fix those errors,” senior Shelley Dunlop said. “We haven’t played as well as we know we can.”Steamboat senior Hannah Gary and junior Kristyn Bradbury led the Sailors with 10 kills each. Junior Stacy Cavanagh chipped in with five kills.The two teams meet again in league play at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 16 in Glenwood Springs.