October 3, Volleyball beat Wheat Ridge, winning three of the four sets. The Lions gained a lead by winning the first two sets, and came back after losing the third set to win the game.
Littleton came out strong, but had to fight in the fourth set after Wheat Ridge ran up the score. After losing the third set 15-25, the Lions took several timeouts in the fourth, and came back each time with greater energy.
“[During the time out] we just talked about how we’re kind of frantic and we needed to go back out onto the court and just slow things down, play our game and not get in our heads and just do our best and play for each other,” said senior Breanna Mcdowell.
The Lions pushed the score to a tie at 21-21 in the fourth, and came back from a timeout to land several key plays, ultimately winning the last set 25-22. Junior Allison Groustra nailed several kill shots in the fourth.
This season the Lions have been focusing on maintaining energy levels and cohesiveness during the third set specifically.
“We normally win our first and second [sets] so we kind of get in our heads a bit…This whole season we’ve been kind of off and on and the third set is normally when we fall so we’ve been trying to focus on keeping our energy up and encouraging each other, and [our energy] lifted…I was so proud of us,” said senior Kaimbry Kugeler.
Players emphasized that channeling the energy from longer rallies was key, in addition to focusing on a “calm mindset” to prevent playing frantic.
“I think that it helped to get our serves in and just go on runs where we had energy and I think that when we had that energy we were able to kill it one after another,” said Mcdowell.
The Lions currently have a 3-9 record, and will face Green Mountain for the first time this season at home on Monday, October 7.
