Arvada West girls volleyball sweats out 5-set win over Green Mountain

LAKEWOOD — Taking a regular-season victory over Green Mountain’s girls volleyball team on the Rams’ home court hasn’t been an easy task lately.

In fact, Green Mountain — back-to-back Class 4A Jeffco League champions — hadn’t loss a regular-season game on its home court since the Fall 2021. However, Arvada West was up to the task Tuesday night was a 5-set victory over the Rams.

“It is a new level for us for sure,” A-West coach Debbie Erickson said of the 22-25, 25-17, 26-24, 10-25, 15-9 marathon road victory for the Wildcats. “We have been working toward this for four years. Our program is getting better and better every year.”

The Wildcats (2-0 record) spoiled the season and home opener for the Rams (0-1) in a match that went the distance. A-West took the second and third sets to take a 2-1 lead, but Green Mountain battled back with a dominating 25-10 fourth set win to force a fifth set.

“After the fourth set we just let it go,” A-West senior Sammy Guenther said. “We started over and pretended it was a new game.”

A-West took advantage of three Ram service errors early in the fifth set. Guenther and fellow senior Elizabeth Edone both had a pair of kills in the fifth set to help lead the way to a 15-9 victory.

“We played so hard,” Guenther said. “We put it all out there. We wanted it so bad.”

The Wildcats are looking to improve on their 10-13 overall record and 1-6 mark in 5A Jeffco last season.

“These girls were put to the test tonight,” Erickson said of her squad that also has an early road win against Evergreen last week. “Green Mountain is an outstanding team. An outstanding program, but we just kept making changes and adjustments.”

A-West was able to keep Green Mountain senior outside hitter Ashlynn Reilly from taking over the fifth set. Reilly — 255 kills a year ago — was the spark that gave Green Mountain wins in the first and fourth sets.

The 6-foot-3 senior had a busy day also playing for Green Mountain’s softball team before the volleyball match. Reilly started at third base went 3-for-3 from the plate with a double and pair of singles before being pinched run for in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Reilly hustled off Green Mountain’s softball field after the end of the fifth inning to get ready for the Rams’ volleyball home opener.

“If we set her (Reilly) too much teams are going to camp on her, which is not what I want,” Green Mountain coach Melanie Watkins said of opponents focusing their defense on Reilly. “I have enough talent with these sophomore hitters to adjust and help her out.”

Erickson was pleased how her team adjusted against Reilly.

“She (Reilly) is an awesome, awesome player,” Erickson said. “ I told our girls that it is fun to play girls like that. You need to use it to get better.”

Green Mountain is coming off its first ever back-to-back conference titles. The Rams have a 18-0 record in 4A Jeffco over the past two seasons. However, Green Mountain was hit hard by graduation. 

“It is going to take a minute, sure,” Watkins said of building the team chemistry this season. “I’ve got a lot of new young players. It is kind of combining two teams from last year into this year.”