Steamboat Pilot & Today

Hayden — Saturday was a beautiful day for a ballgame, and the Hayden volleyball team took advantage of the weather by spending a generous portion of the afternoon outside watching Tigers football.

Problem was the girls nearly lost their opening game to Plateau Valley as they tried to transition between an afternoon in the sun and an early evening league match against the Cowboys.

Hayden fell behind by as much as five points in Game 1 before rallying to win 16-14. The Tigers coasted in the second, winning Game 2, 15-4, to win the match.

"It wasn't our best play," Hayden coach Kipp Rillos said. "You're not always going to play your best, but they rallied and that's been one of our strong suits this season."

Down 11-14 and facing game point, the Tigers set the ball up nicely, which ended in junior Andrea Deepe's kill and a Hayden sideout.

Senior Adriana Svoboda stepped back to the service line and churned out five solid serves to help lead her team to the win.

In Game 2, Svoboda got the Tigers out to a lead they never relinquished, as the team looked much sharper in every facet of the game en route to the 11-point margin of victory.

"We knew we could do it," senior Samantha Schoeberl said. "It just took a minute to get back."

Schoeberl paced Hayden's offensive attack with seven kills, while senior Diane Hull led the team with five assists. Svoboda served up two aces.

With the lead secure, Rillos was able to insert seniors Grace Faucet and Crystal Raffensperger. Raffensperger came in to serve with Hayden up 10-4. She served the next five points, including match point, much to the delight of her coach and teammates.

"She's got a very good serve," Rillos said of Raffensperger. "We got to play a lot of people. With as many seniors as we have, that's great."

The victory over Plateau Valley moves Hayden's league record to 3-1 and its overall record to 7-4. The Tigers' next match is Sept. 24 at West Grand.