Preparations: Aspen volleyball holds off Basalt in another five-set thriller; Results of XC regional

Boring isn’t a word to describe what it’s like to watch a high school volleyball game between Aspen and Basalt this season.

After rallying from a two-set deficit to win 3-2 on the road on Sept. 24, the Skiers built an early lead in Thursday’s rematch and ultimately secured a 3-2 win at the AHS gym .

“It’s always fun to play against them,” said AHS head coach David Chadbourne, who formerly coached at Basalt. “The girls know each other off the field and are friends, and when they come on the field they obviously want to beat each other. It’s always a fight. We knew it would be a tough battle, but it was fun to get a win for Lindsay (Waldeck) on senior night.”

After a brief senior ceremony before the game, where Waldeck took center stage, the young skiers went to work and easily won the first set. It was back and forth from there, with Basalt taking control in the second set, AHS again in front in the third set and the Longhorns hanging on in the fourth set to once again force a decisive fifth set against their rivals.

“It’s always fun playing Aspen. They are a good team. They played their hearts out. But don’t count our girls out,” BHS coach Naomi Santiago said. “They really wanted to win, but unfortunately sometimes things just don’t go in our favor. But it’s okay – they played a tough game and I’m really proud of how they played.”

Aspen controlled much of the fifth set, but Basalt had a late push and made the Skiers work, but ultimately AHS held on for the Longhorns’ season win, 15-13.

In its last game, Aspen also needed five sets for a 3-2 win at Roaring Fork on Tuesday.

“The thing about this group of girls is that when I started working with them, they might have given up after being two sets down, but they become very competitive and hard-working, and they can get the job done even in the fifth set.” Chadbourne said. “It puts me under a lot of stress – it costs me a few years of life. But at the end of the day we get the work done and that’s fun.”

Aspen, now 11-9 overall, has two games remaining in the regular season. After hosting Forge Christian on Saturday at 1 p.m., the Skiers have a week off before their final at home against Moffat County on Nov. 2.

When the CHSAANow.com seeding index, which determines the playoff round, was finalized Friday afternoon, Aspen remained just inside the cutoff for regional play, meaning the postseason appears likely for the Skiers.

“It’s looking pretty good,” Chadbourne confirmed. “We’re excited to go to the Front Range this year with this particular team because they compete well against teams that are really good and fluid and it will be fun to see how they respond when we get there go down.”

While Aspen was ranked No. 28 in the seeding index as of Friday, Basalt was ranked No. 51 and well outside the 36-team regional limit. At 3-10 overall, the Longhorns have virtually no chance of advancing to the regional, but Santiago still wants the team to perform well this week to prepare for next fall.

Basalt still has one week of play left, next up is a home game against Soroco on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“I would like to get some wins in our next games,” Santiago said. “We had a little problems this season. I want to end the season on a positive note. I want the girls to enjoy the last week we are together, but let’s also leave the season with a few wins, for morale, for our own pride and to be ready for next year.”

Aspen girls, Basalt’s Scott shines at regional cross country

A regional cross country race was held in Fraser on Friday, and both Aspen and Basalt had strong performances and will send runners to the state finals on November 2nd in Colorado Springs.

On the girls’ side, Aspen won the team title with 53 points, securing one of the four automatic team qualifications. Second place went to Coal Ridge (64), followed by Basalt (70) and D’Evelyn (109).

Individually, Coal Ridge sophomore Effie Fletcher won the girls race in 20 minutes, 20.4 seconds. Aspen senior Julia Diaz took second place with a time of 21:09.6. AHS student Annabelle Case placed fourth in 21:50.6; BHS senior Isabella Moon finished seventh in 21:55.5; BHS junior Addison Raymond finished eighth in 22:02.2; and BHS junior Caroline Cole was 10^Th at 22:22.

For the boys, Aspen finished fourth as a team with 109 points, narrowly making it into automatic team qualification. D’Evelyn won with 44 points, followed by second-place Coal Ridge (58) and third-place Moffat County (67). Basalt finished sixth (162) and did not qualify for the state championship as a team.

However, as an individual, Basalt junior Towler Scott led the field and secured his own path to state by winning the boys’ race in 18:02.1. Coal Ridge’s Jake Curt was second at 18:17.2, and Aspen sophomore Jack Diaz was third at 18:18.4.

The official list of all state qualifiers will be announced on Monday.

acolbert@aspentimes.com