It was an up-and-down weekend for the McClave volleyball team, as they grabbed two important District 2 victories but had a dismal showing at the Fowler Tournament.
The Lady Cards hosted Eads on Thursday night and swept to an easy three game victory, handling the Eagles 25-20, 25-11, 25-13. They traveled to Granada on Friday and swept the Lady Bobcats as well, 25-7, 25-12, 25-8. In both matches, reserves got to play some quality minutes. Those two wins move McClave to 5-0 in district play and set up a showdown with Kit Carson this week for the top seed in District 2. The two wins moved McClave to 10-2 on the season.
On Saturday, the team traveled to Fowler to take part in the prestigious Fowler Tournament without head coach Brianne Howe. Howe was attending her younger sister's wedding. Fowler, the #1 team in 2A and the defending state champions, brings in five solid teams - all 2A and 3A Lamar and Pagosa Springs - each year. For the first time in tournament history, the Lady Cards dropped all four matches in the tournament. Fowler hammered McClave 25-11, 25-12. The Cardinals beat Pagosa Springs 25-17 in game one and held a 21-11 lead in game two, only to see Pagosa score 14 points in a row, to lose 25-21. They dropped game three 25-22. Sangre de Cristo beat the Lady Cards in two, 25-20, 25-17. McClave's final match was with Lamar, and the Lady Savages beat the Cardinals 25-22, 25-16.
"In our tournament at Fowler, we found out that we are out of shape; something I didn't expect at this point in the season. The Fowler Tournament is a good test; we have never failed to do well up there until this year, so that is disappointing. We are at the end of our season, so we need to get things turned around immediately. We can do it; it just has to be important to us," said Howe.
"We are sitting good for the District Tournament just two weeks away, and we want to play well at Kit Carson."
