Although wins have been tough to come by, the Mancos Bluejays volleyball team continues to fight on.
Opening up last week's play with a road game against Aztec on Tuesday, Oct. 1, the Bluejays fell in straight sets, 17-25, 26-28, 16-25.
Three days later, playing at home against the undefeated Dove Creek Bulldogs on Friday, Oct. 4, the Bluejays against lost in three sets, 21-25, 12-25, 19-25.
After a series of close points early in the first set, the Bluejays pulled ahead 8-4 on an ace by senior Brandi Bundy. Shortly thereafter, a hard spike down the middle by junior Courtney Colyer put the Bluejays ahead 11-8.
Although the Bulldogs would subsequently cut the Bluejays' lead to 18-17, Mancos would again pull ahead by three, 20-17, following an ace by junior Jessica Willburn.
An 8-1 run by the Bulldogs would doom the Bluejays however, and following a Mancos hitting error, Dove Creek captured the first set 25-21.
Early in the second set, the Bluejays again managed to keep things close, trailing 11-9 after a nice block by Colyer.
Another long Bulldogs' run would again doom the Bluejays however, and following a hitting error by sophomore Taryn Gordanier, Mancos dropped the second set 25-12.
With their backs against the wall in the third set, the Bluejays would fall behind 9-2 before making a spirited run to keep the match close.
A hard spike by Gordanier, through a Bulldogs' block, brought the Bluejays to within six at 9-3. An ace by junior Taylor Goff drew Mancos even closer at 14-8 and after a Dove Creek hitting error, the Bluejays pulled to within three at 22-19.
At that point, however, the Bulldogs locked down, and after two consecutive points, took the first set 25-19 on a solid spike by Shelbie Knuckles.
"Mancos played well," said Bulldogs' head coach Scott Knuckles. "You always come to Mancos and (the Bluejays) are always ready to play. They let us into it with quite a few missed serves, but overall, they played well."
Closing out the week's play on the road against Ridgway on Saturday, Oct. 5, the Bluejays lost again, falling in four sets 10-25, 25-21, 17-25, 21-25.
Next up for the Bluejays will be a home matchup against Telluride on Thursday, Oct. 10.
