Barbara Lawlor, Gilpin County.  Slow start, but building steam.

The Gilpin High School girls’ volleyball team has been honing their skills and sharpening the edges, preparing their talons for mid-season competition.

After a floundering for the first third of the season, the Eagles are swooping in on their prey like the raptors they are.

Now, after winning two out of the last three games, their win record is 3-7 and teamwork becomes evident as they become precise at the net and skillful at the service line.

A week ago, Tuesday, Sept. 18, the girls traveled to the flatlands to take on the Longmont Christian Warriors, returning to the high country with a 3-1 win. They glided through the first two games and then allowed the Warriors to battle through their defenses to evade their claws in the third game. The fourth game went to the Gilpin girls and the 3-1 match ended: 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-14. The Warriors left their shields on the battlefield.

On Wednesday, the Eagles caught their breath and then swooped down to Union Colony Prep on Thursday, where they were chewed up by the Timberwolves, 0-3, on Sept. 20: 17-25, 21-25, 14-25.

They didn’t spend any time feeling sorry for themselves. On Friday, Sept. 21, the Eagles hosted the Bellevue Christian Academy Bruins and chased them home, 3-0. All three games were packed with solid volleys that tested both teams’ stamina, especially Gilpin’s come-back ability in the second game: 25-20, 26-24, 25-23.

(Originally published in the September 27, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)