YOUR AD HERE »

Soroco volleyball beats Hayden

Rams get payback after losing to Tigers this month

Luke Graham
Soroco High School junior Shelby Miles hits the ball during Saturday's match against Hayden in Hayden. Soroco won 3-1.
Matt Stensland
Soroco High School senior Caitlyn Berry reacts after her team scored a point during Saturday’s match.Matt Stensland

— In the bigger scheme, Saturday’s Hayden-Soroco volleyball tilt had little bearing on where the two teams would open up district tournament play. Each team already had locked up a home game Tuesday.

But don’t tell Soroco that.

Soroco, on the heels of getting swept in three games by Hayden two weeks ago, put on a clinic Saturday, downing Hayden, 3-1, by scores of 25-17, 14-25, 25-16, 25-17.



It meant “everything,” Soroco senior Caitlyn Berry said. “For one, Hayden’s our rival, and we haven’t beat them all season or since I’ve played varsity. Two, it was for second place in the district.”

Rangely locked up a bye and the top spot in the district, Soroco slots in the No. 2 spot, and Hayden is third. The Rams and Tigers will host a game Tuesday. The opponent and times of those games have yet to be determined.



Still, Soroco has to be feeling pretty good against whomever the team plays. From the outset in the first game Saturday in Hayden, Soroco looked like the more prepared team, and the Rams ran away with it.

Soroco’s energy in the first game seemed to wake up Hayden. The Tigers dominated the second game, combining solid net play and Soroco errors to jump out to leads of 11-2 and 21-9 before winning.

“As far as sets go, that might have been the best we’ve played all year,” Hayden coach Greg Johnson said.

That left the third game as a swing game. Seemingly with momentum, Hayden came out strong and led, 4-1. But the resilient Rams stormed back with an 11-0 run to take a 12-4 lead. Soroco kept the pressure on and withstood a late Hayden run to take the game.

“I feel like we went out and beat them instead of us beating ourselves,” Rams coach Kim Reeves said. “It was about coming in here and proving to them what we had. It’s just icing on the cake that we took second going into districts.”

The fourth game went much the same as the third, with Soroco applying relentless pressure and getting to nearly every ball.

Hayden never led in the fourth game as Soroco rolled.

“The difference in the game was intensity,” Johnson said. “They brought their best effort. They’ve been talking about this game for weeks. They wanted to win, and they did. I don’t think we played bad; we just didn’t match their intensity.”

The two teams now prepare for the district tournament. Hayden and Soroco most likely will play either Meeker or Vail Christian.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Steamboat and Routt County make the Steamboat Pilot & Today’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.