Going into the game the Stars knew they were not going to be able to let their guard down against the Trojans. Thornton High School had a record of 6-1 with the Stars at 5-3, and like the Hunger Games, the odds were not in their favor.
The Stars had previously played Greeley Central this past Thursday, an easy game, not preparing them for what was to come.
Off the bat, the Trojans were passing to their setter, closing blocks, and gaining kills. The Stars, caught off guard, continued to make errors, but maintained their ground.
“I feel like as a team we definitely functioned well in certain sets and not as well in others, but overall we did really well,” Co-Captain Alex Van Thuyne said.
But after several serve receive and hitting errors, Poudre School District called a timeout 11-16 to regroup.
This was successful enough to scare Thornton into calling the second timeout of the set at 21-23, but unfortunately, it was just not enough for the Stars to pull ahead and lost 21-25.
“Thornton’s a good team, they set fast and they get over [the net],” hitter Dylan Smith said.
After taking a set to warm up, the Stars cleaned up their side of the court, pulling ahead from the beginning, forcing the Trojans to call a timeout at 7-2.
Dylan Smith not only gained points from his team with his powerful topspin, but aided his team in his unorthodox passing, receiving serves by setting instead of passing.
“We did well,” Dylan Smith said, “I think we have room for improvement.”
Yet a common mistake occurred, the Stars began getting too comfortable and mistakes crept their way back into the game, causing them to call a timeout at 21-15.
Fortunately for the Stars, they already had a large lead and followed through, a kill from Trevor Baldwin solidifying their win at 25-19.
PSD lost its momentum while Thornton’s was only growing.
“We had more energy [during the second set], we were more positive,” Smith said.
The Stars called their first timeout at 10-15, but unfortunately for them they only gained one point after while the Trojans gained eight, forcing the Stars into their second timeout of the set at 11-23.
It was too far gone and the Trojans carried out the rest of the set as theirs, winning 25-12.
Instead of being powerful and direct, the Stars were trying to not make mistakes, potentially their biggest mistake of the game.
The score remained close, the Stars doing what they could to make the game theirs again, but Thornton was too skilled, leaving fans to wonder: was the set the Stars won a fluke?
The Trojans took the last set 25-20, leaving PSD with another loss.
In the future they plan on, “trying to keep our attitude up, trying our best to not fret over a mistake and just look into the future about what we can do better,” Van Thuyne said.
See PSD boys volleyball next in an away game against Arvada West who holds a record of 4-1.
