{"id":31015,"date":"2023-10-24T00:10:40","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T06:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/gatlin-sisters-leading-dove-creeks-postseason-charge\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:32:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:32:43","slug":"gatlin-sisters-leading-dove-creeks-postseason-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/gatlin-sisters-leading-dove-creeks-postseason-charge\/","title":{"rendered":"Gatlin sisters leading Dove Creek\u2019s postseason charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Kylie Gatlin smashes a kill in a match against Montezuma-Cortez. Gatlin's tremendous play has made her a force in the San Juan Basin League all four years of her playing career.Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Dove Creek prides itself on the various family lineages that have produced standout siblings, one generation after the next. The constant influx of new talent has made the rest of the San Juan Basin League feel like they\u2019re seeing d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu.<\/p>\n

Or in the case of the Gatlins, like they\u2019re seeing double.<\/p>\n

For the past four years, twin sisters Kalie and Kylie Gatlin have excelled within the tradition rich Dove Creek volleyball and basketball programs, elevating the Bulldogs to incredible heights.<\/p>\n

Now, with the sunset of their high school playing days on the horizon, the Gatlins are in the midst of another memorable run, pursuing a fitting final chapter to their storybook careers.<\/p>\n

\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Kalie Gatlin sets a ball in a match against Montezuma-Cortez. Gatlin has been an impact player for the Bulldogs since her first days as a freshman.Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek junior Ralynn Hickman (10) and senior Halee Beanland (12) set up a wall to block a ball against Montezuma-Cortez. The duo have joined the Gatlin twins to help the Bulldogs to another winning season.Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Halee Beanland serves a ball in a match against Montezuma-Cortez. Beanland is one of three seniors enjoying a strong final season for Dove Creek volleyball.Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Dove Creek volleyball have posted their third straight 20-win season, and with the caveat of the COVID-shortened freshman campaign for the Gatlins, they likely would have threatened to become the first Dove Creek class to collect 100 victories over the course of the careers.<\/p>\n

Fair to say, three league titles and a pair of 1A state tournament appearances so far are pretty nice consolation. A third straight visit to the final 12 in Denver sits high on the list of Bulldog priorities as Dove Creek enters into the high-leverage matches remaining on the schedule.<\/p>\n

Fourth-year head coach Lacey Murphy has gotten to witness their full span of high school volleyball from the first days on the varsity court. \u201cThey\u2019re just the ultimate competitors,\u201d said Murphy of the twin sisters, \u201cthey know how to make the smart play \u2013 they\u2019re very good at seeing the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the matches get tougher, that\u2019s when Murphy sees the Gatlins at their best. \u201cThey\u2019re crunchtime players, it seems like they feed off of playing tight contests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gatlin duo have created one of the most lethal attacking combinations in the small school ranks, with Kalie providing the assists on most of Kylie\u2019s 250-plus kills.<\/p>\n

In their two different roles on the court, Kylie notes that the setter and outside hitter have a different mentality, including responses to mistakes. \u201cWhen she [Kalie] messes up, she\u2019ll get over it and tries changing things, and I\u2019ll find myself doing the same thing over again,\u201d said Kylie with a laugh.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fire from Kylie that Murphy recognizes has made her one of the best outside hitters in the 1A classification.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, for Kalie, the even-keeled approach serves her well with all of her teammates relying on her to put them in the best position for a kill. \u201cGetting upset about the last play doesn\u2019t fix anything, it\u2019s just a matter of moving on to the next one \u2013 and you know that it\u2019ll work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalie surpassed both 2,500 assists and 1,000 digs for her career in a late-season victory, both indicators of her skills on defense and in facilitating the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been setting my whole life,\u201d added Kalie, \u201cand it always feels good when I\u2019m able to put my teammates in a good position for a kill.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the \u2018Dogs, their presence has only been part of the bigger picture of success. Junior Ralynn Hickman has benefited from Kalie\u2019s setting prowess, leading the team in kills, while senior Halee Beanland has emerged as a strong third option for Dove Creek in attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cKalie and Kylie have gotten the younger players to come along with them, and they do it with actions rather than words,\u201d said Murphy of the way in which the Gatlins have taken on the leadership role in their senior year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had to learn over the past four years how to be leaders,\u201d said Kylie, \u201cand the underclassmen have pushed themselves how to be better \u2013 and they\u2019ve taken the steps that they need to become leaders themselves when we leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s come from stepping up and showing what we can do,\u201d added Kalie.<\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s Bulldogs cruised to victory over Montezuma-Cortez in their final road match of the regular season. For stretches of the match, the Gatlins willed the \u2018Dogs to pull away from a tough battle from M-CHS, finishing the sweep, 25-21, 25-18, 25-17. Dove Creek followed it up with a sweep of Ignacio on the following morning, helping the Bulldogs reach the 20-win plateau for the third straight year.<\/p>\n

Dove Creek winds down the regular season with a celebration of their trio of seniors in their home finale against Ridgway on Oct. 27. From there, the Bulldogs will turn their focus onto regional play, with the hopes that their home court will help lift them back to the Denver Coliseum in the second weekend of November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

standouts capping decorated careers for the Bulldogs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-31015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31015","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=31015"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81287,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31015\/revisions\/81287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31015"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=31015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}