Girls volleyball comes back strong

The Niwot High School girls volleyball team went back to its usual routine after last week's match against the most competitive team in the conference.

The Cougars swept Northridge High School (25-9, 25-11, 25-20) and Fort Morgan High School (25-12, 25-16, 25-10) after a tough loss to Thompson Valley High School last week.

Such success was of little surprise to head coach Tony Engel, who was confident in the Cougars' serving abilities and discipline. On Thursday's game against Fort Morgan, the team kept their opponents in single digits in the first set, which was a nice break from their tough schedule.

"It feels pretty good," sophomore Elise Arends said. "We could've won the last one a little bit better because I think our energy dropped a little bit because of the lead. In volleyball it's super important to keep your momentum and keep your hustle even if the team can't play up to you."

Engel felt as though there was an advantage at play, especially with the similarity between the week's two games.

Time and time again, the coach has emphasized the importance of focusing on what the team could control and waiting for the results to follow.

"This team was a lot like what we played on Tuesday," he said. "We had about a week to prepare for this phase of our schedule. We have to remain focused and we gotta make sure we do what we do on our side and not worry about how it happens over there."

Though there is much to be celebrated, there are still weak points to be sharpened to be as competitive as possible.

According to Engel, the Cougars are a strong serving team and have no problems keeping the ball in the air. Bella Berger, a sophomore, believes that the success of the team is largely due to the lineup that helps each other during the play.

"I'm feeling really good about the rest of the season," she said. "I think we're going to do a great job. We're gonna have a few tough games and I think we have a really good chance and we're going to do great. I think our serve-receive sets the pace for the rest of the game. We can get Anne (Haley), the setter, a great pass and she can set up any of the hitters and we can put it back in play."

Haley has collected 135 assists for the Cougars and has a 54.8% kill percentage.

The Cougars are on a two-game winning streak and are in second place in the conference. They will start thinking about the postseason with only five games left in conference play.

"For the rest of our conference games, I'm expecting to do really, really well because we've played the toughest teams in our conference," Arends said. "Going into regionals, I think we would do really well too. For state, we're going to push really hard."

The Cougars will move forward against ninth-place Skyline High School on Tuesday followed by third-place Roosevelt High School on Thursday.