Battle Mountain girls volleyball team punches ticket to state tournament
Tyler Heimerl recorded seven kills in the final set to send the Huskies to their first big dance since 2014
Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
Making it to state isn’t supposed to be a breeze. But for the first five hours of Monday’s regional round robin, the Battle Mountain girls volleyball team was making things look easy. Too easy.
The No. 4 Huskies rolled over No. 33 Discovery Canyon 25-20, 25-17, 25-23 in the opening game of the 4A Region 4 tournament and were more than two-thirds of the way through a sweep of No. 21 Standley Lake when the magnitude of the moment finally set in. Trailing 16-11, the Gators went on a 9-1 run en route to a 25-23 win to preserve their season. The visitors jumped out 14-9 lead in the fourth, too, until Tyler Heimerl put her foot down.
The senior recorded seven kills in the set 鈥� including an authoritative match-ending spike to the far corner 鈥� to send Battle Mountain to its first state tournament in 10 years.
“That felt amazing,” the senior said of the final play. “That was my last time playing on that court and I really wanted to put all my effort and energy into marking my spot.”聽
Perfection plundered
Battle Mountain came into the tournament with a 21-1 record, its only blemish coming in the penultimate regular-season contest. Then 20-0, the Huskies’ perfection was plundered by Palisade, which provided a 25-6, 25-11 pounding on Nov. 2. Heimerl called the loss a necessary “eye-opener.”
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“Honestly I think we needed that,” she said. “We needed to see top-level teams. Going into regionals, nothing was promised.”
Fellow senior Gracie Halminski agreed.
“That showed us that we can’t just be given something,” she said. “We actually have to work hard for our position.”
The lesson would be applied late in Monday’s winner-take-all match. After claiming the first two sets 25-20, 25-20, the Huskies appeared to be in total control in the third as well. Then, carelessness set in.
“We all were like, ‘oh, we got the next one, we’re set for state, we’re good 鈥� and then we let that get to us and didn’t play to our full potential,” Heimerl said. The Gators’ resulting run forced first-year head coach Scott Graves to call time. In the huddle, his message was to breath and reset, senior defensive specialist Kyla Romer said.
“You know how to play, you know what you’re doing,” she said. “And we did.”
“Really the whole season comes down to those kinds of moments when sometimes it’s easy to get ahead of yourselves,” Zastrow added. “In that situation, we just had to fight back and show that we wanted it.”
The Huskies actually stormed back to take a 23-22 lead before the third-straight missile from high-flying Gator outside hitter Genevieve Robertson got passed the Battle Mountain blockers. Halminski served into the net and the Gators lived to see another day after winning the following volley.
Battle Mountain found themselves trailing again in the fourth, but Heimerl came up with key kills at critical moments 鈥� with her team trailing 9-3, 12-6 and 16-12. Somewhere, Kevin Harlan was saying, “Up high and down hard!” when the state-qualifying high and triple jumper blasted her team to within two at 17-15. The belief was back.
“We remembered what we were fighting for,” said senior Presley Walters.
“It’s that situation where you have to come in the huddle, put your heads together and work as a team,” Halminski added. “The unit has to come through.”
The Huskies claimed their first lead when Izzy Zastrow touched it over the top of the Standley Lake block to make it 22-21. After Sydney Martin tied things up with a second-straight kill, Zastrow replicated her drop shot for a 23-22 advantage. Then, Heimerl brought them to the finish line with a pair of points.
“It’s surreal. I don’t think it’s kicked in for anybody yet,” Walters said of making it to the state tournament. “I know the seniors were playing like it could have been our last game.”
For a group that’s endured 8-15, 9-14 and 11-13 marks before this year’s 23-1 campaign, the trip to Denver is even sweeter.
“Our team has just grown together,” said Romer.
Battle Mountain’s collective strength will determine how far the Huskies go when the action kicks off on Thursday. They’ll face the winner of No. 5 Montrose and No. 12 Mead at 3:30 p.m.
“When we falter the most, it’s usually when we start playing more individually,” Zastrow stated. “When we come together as a team, that’s when we play the best.”聽
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
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Battle Mountain players celebrate winning the 4A Region 4 championship on Monday night in Edwards.
Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
