Since winning Regionals on Nov. 1, Dolores High School volleyball players have been on cloud nine, and who could blame them. The last time a Bears team qualified for state, the year was 2009.<\/p>\n
In advance of their state tournament match against top-ranked Yuma on Nov. 7, players sat down and discussed what makes this year\u2019s Bears team special. Below are some of their revelations.<\/p>\n
Players are smart and involved<\/p>\n
While some teams struggle in the classroom, players on this year\u2019s Dolores team do anything but. Nearly every player on this year\u2019s team maintains at least a 3.5 GPA and so far this season, no player has been ineligible.<\/p>\n
In addition to their good work in the classroom, this year\u2019s players have involved themselves in a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including knowledge bowl and student government.<\/p>\n
Sierra Schwartz, Alyssa Umberger, Taylor Elder and Cameron Elder and Josie Majors play basketball and Schwartz, Umberger, Taylor Elder, Cameron Elder, Kelly Charles and Harlie Valdez run track. Bailey Boyd is a member of the cheerleading team.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a team, we\u2019re involved in our school and our community,\u201d said Umberger. \u201cThat involvement has brought us together and kept everyone on track.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team is tight-knit<\/p>\n
Whether they playing volleyball or hanging out off the court, Bears players agreed that they always have a good time.<\/p>\n
All good friends, members of the team regularly gather for team dinners and movie nights. Most recently, the group gathered at the home of Cameron and Taylor Elder.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter we ate dinner, we all fell asleep and we were like, \u2018this is so nice,'\u201d said Boyd. \u201cWe all get along really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s really cool how have different age groups and still compete at a high level,\u201d said Taylor Elder. \u201cIt shows that we have really good underclassmen, and we can all work well together as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Players stay loose<\/p>\n
Throughout the 2014 season, few teams have stayed loose quite like this year\u2019s Bears.<\/p>\n
Down two sets to Cedaredge in the regional finals, players remained relaxed and continued to have fun. As a result, the Bears were able to recover and capture the final three games.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Head coach Gina Hollen) is really calm and even,\u201d said Boyd. \u201cShe\u2019s kind of like our reality check. She keeps everyone relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bears excited for Denver<\/p>\n
The Bears will open the Class 2A State Tournament against Yuma High School on Nov. 7. Players agreed that the team\u2019s goal is to win at least one match.<\/p>\n
Members of this year\u2019s varsity team are Kelly Charles, Sierra Schwartz, Taylor Elder, Cameron Elder, Beth Brown, Courtney Blackmer, Alyssa Umberger, Harlie Valdez, Bailey Boyd and Josie Majors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Volleyball team tight-knit, smart, relaxed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6362],"tags":[188],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-116743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ds-sports","tag-dolores-star"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116743"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=116743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}