Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The emotion surrounding homecoming week might provide a spark that has fizzled in Soroco's volleyball game.

Coming off four straight losses, Soroco hosts Hayden at 6 p.m. Friday, and coach Amy Pankonin wants her team to not be afraid to make mistakes.

"I just have a good group of kids that are perfectionists," Pankonin said. "They don't take risky attacks. They have good attacks but no kills."

In the past four matches, Soroco has 160 attacks to just 45 kills. Pankonin said her hitters are playing it safe at the net, trying to prevent a ball from sailing out of bounds or flying into the net.

Over the past four matches, senior Meg Hayne notched 15 kills. Junior Hallie Shiner had 14 kills, while junior Kaleyne Gneiser contributed 26 assists. Overall, Soroco has been effective from the service line and decent on defense.

"We're not playing bad volleyball," Pankonin said. "We're not aggressive. I want the girls to take more risks."

With that comes mistakes, but Pankonin said she accepts that. It's hard to win points or even sideout if the ball doesn't hit the floor.

Friday's match against Hayden might be the perfect chance for her girls to play with the aggression Pankonin wants to see. Not only is it homecoming this week in South Routt, the opponent happens to be in intracounty rival.

"Hayden's always a big match for these girls," Pankonin said.

At 5-12 overall and 1-6 in the league, a win or loss won't have much bearing on the Rams' placement in the standings, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything to play for.

"It's our homecoming," Pankonin said. "The girls really want to win this."

The varsity plays at 6 p.m. The JV and C teams play at 4 and 5 p.m.