A week after handing Jefferson High’s volleyball squad its first loss of the season in a taught, five-set contest, the Ennis Mustangs arrived in Boulder Oct. 4 for a return match. The result, before a raucous Homecoming crowd, was not the same.
In fact, the Lady Panthers took down Ennis in straight sets, vaulting into first place in the District 5B standings and giving themselves a nice mid-season confidence boost.
The Panthers started strong, reeling off the first four points of the match and going up 8-5 on a kill by Brooklyn Miller. Ryian Eveland blocked a Mustang hit for a point and the Panthers took a 22-14 lead on a kill by Cameron Toney. Ennis surged to tie the set at 23, and the teams stayed tied at 25. But a sneak kill by Toney made it 26-25 and the Panthers pulled out an exciting 27-25 win.
The Panthers took control early in the second set, cruising to an 18-6 bulge on a couple of block points by Eveland and a pair of hard kills by Toney — who slammed another hard hit for the winner, 25-7.
The final set was more of the same. Jefferson went up 6-2, a kill by Brooklyn Miller made it 11-3, and Maia Walters’ ace extended the lead to 18-8. Ennis came back to pull to 20-13, but the Panthers closed it out with 5 straight points for the win.
Cameron Toney had 15 kills, ½ block and 11 digs, while Erica Shields notched a kill, 14 assists and 17 digs. Miller had 4 kills and 2 digs; Eveland 2 kills, 5 blocks and 4 digs; and Maddy Averill a kill and 25 digs. Avery Popp had 3 assists; Grace Quigley a kill, ½ block and a dig; Walters an ace and 6 digs; Hanna Stevens an assist and a dig; and Aubrey Rosenbaum, Jaida Jurenka and Allison Zawacki a dig apiece.
