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Roaring Fork downs rival Basalt

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

CARBONDALE, Colorado – Landon Garvik and her Roaring Fork volleyball teammates never have a problem getting up for a match against Basalt.

The Rams and Longhorns are natural rivals. A mere 14 miles separate the two schools and they’re both members of Roaring Fork School District Re-1.

With that added motivation fueling their efforts, Garvik and her teammates struck first in the 2009 chapter of the Roaring Fork-Basalt rivalry, hanging a 25-11, 25-18, 25-16 loss on the visiting Longhorns.



“It’s one of our biggest rivals, in any sport,” Garvik said. “Basalt is just the one to beat. We feel so good that we have that game out of our way. I usually don’t get nervous before games, but I was a little nervous before this one.”

From afar, Garvik looked anything but nervous. She led the Rams with 11 kills, most with plenty of velocity behind them. The junior also had two blocks.



Fellow juniors Niki Burns and Savanna Phibbs slammed five kills apiece as Roaring Fork made quick work of its rival in front of a rowdy crowd that featured heavy representation from each school.

The Rams put seven of the match’s first eight points on the board, coasting to a first-game win.

“We were really excited with the way we came out the first game,” Roaring Fork coach Carrie Shultz said. “We’ve had trouble starting our first game. The other challenge was, can we keep that momentum? And they did.”

After playing tight with the Longhorns through the early stages of the second game, Shultz’s squad scored 10 of the last 13 points to go up 2-0. The Rams led comfortably the bulk of the third game in putting Basalt away.

“They’ve got an incredible team this year,” Longhorns coach Stephanie Palmer said. “I think we were kind of psyched ourselves out thinking they were going to have a great team. We didn’t play our game as well as we should have, but I’m really proud of our girls. They stayed low and were aggressive. We’ll be back.”

Ashley Soucie led Basalt with three kills. Nicole Booth, Erin Erickson and Jade Johnson added two apiece for the Longhorns, who dropped to 1-4 overall and to 0-2 in the 3A Western Slope League.

Roaring Fork improved to 3-0, both in league and overall, with the win. And it was a win that’s easily the Rams’ most satisfying thus far.

“You know, it’s just that the players really get into it,” Garvik said. “We see each other around the valley a lot and think, she’s on that other team. We’ve got to out-do her.”

The Rams and Longhorns will get a second crack at out-doing each other Oct. 9 in Basalt.

jcaspersen@postindependent.com


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