The Greeley West volleyball team’s record is not indicative of the improvements it has made throughout the season.  Entering tomorrow night’s match against Fort Collins, the Spartans are 2-16 and 0-7 in the Northern Conference.  But according to coach Ryan Knoblock and his players, improvements have been consistent, if not always resulting in victories.  

One such example was the October 2nd loss to Poudre.  In that match, the Spartans won a match after falling behind 2-0.   The scores of the last 3 sets of the match were all within 3 or less points, showing how close the match was.

“We were outplaying them and on pace to win the fourth, but then a couple weird things happened and they ended up taking the 4th and winning,” Knoblock explained.  “ But we were outplaying them through the end of that match..”  

One player who has been impressive on the season is sophomore Mya Salazar.  Sophomore teammate Nadia Serrano said, “She work(s) really hard to get us our assists for hitting and hustling for the balls that we shank..” 

In addition, libero Destiny Velarde has been a bright spot.  “Our libero, Destiny, is always a strength for us,” Knoblock explained.  “She’s one of the best liberos in the league.” 

Despite the losses, the team continues to stay motivated as they head into the final stretch of their season.  “What went right was probably helping each other and staying motivated,” Salazar said.  

Tomorrow night’s game will be the second chance to play Fort Collins this season.  West lost the first time, 3-0 in September.  For Knoblock, it will be another gauge to see how the Spartans have improved.  “We just got better and better all night (against Poudre),” Knoblock said.  “The team is working well together. We were putting in effort throughout the whole match.”