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By the end of Thursday night’s epic five-set rivalry volleyball match between Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley, both student sections’ spirit fingers were running low on pixie dust to sprinkle on their squads. Trailing 12-7, Lela Goehring decided she didn’t need any magic to seal the deal.

“We just kept going,” the junior said. “We didn’t stop.”

In one of the more truly evenly-matched, back-and-forth battles between the I-70 rivals in recent memory, Goehring not only guided the Huskies back from a 2-1 deficit but registered three-straight kills to close the final gap. During the scoring spree, the 5-foot-11 outside hitter said she was thinking about last year’s team, which started the season 20-0.

“I think coming from last year we were undefeated and we just really wanted to keep that going,” she said.

The defending league champions looked like they were going to make quick work of Eagle Valley, jumping out to a 5-1 lead in the first. Then, Cynthia Orona — who won a USA Volleyball beach national title earlier this summer — sprained her ankle.

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“As soon as Cynthia went out, I was like ‘uh oh,'” head coach Scott Graves admitted. “And that kind of dictated the mood after that. Our players looked scared.”

Goehring agreed.

“I think it really shook us up,” she said. “We didn’t know what to do.”

Eagle Valley’s Riley Weatherred smelled blood. The junior powered home three kills before Goehring missed the corner, giving Eagle Valley its first lead at 11-10. But the Huskies didn’t lay down. Freshman Riley Jennings stepped in and served up an ace to make it 23-19, forcing the hosts into a timeout. Goehring was blocked going for the set point a moment later, but her teammates dug out another opportunity and she closed it out for the 25-19 win.

Orona returned for the rest the game. Despite a noticeable limp, the 5-foot-9 outside hitter remained a force with acumen and placement as much as power.

“She said, ‘I’m going back in, I’m going back in,'” Graves relayed. “I looked at the trainer and I asked, ‘Can she do this?’ And she said, ‘yeah.’ I kept asking her, ‘are you sure you’re good?'”

Orona and Weatherred threw haymakers over the next two sets. At times, it seemed as though the Huskies were destined to make it a quick evening. But Eagle Valley came through 25-22 in both to take a 2-1 lead. Ansley Hopper dished out 37 assists, with Weatherred smacking home 23 kills and Cadence Aguilar fueling the fire with 10 of her own.

“We’re a team that relies heavily on the outside and Cadence and Riley are a big part of that,” Devils coach Mike Garvey said. “The nice thing about them is they’re humble. They take ownership of their mistakes, their play, and their teammates continue to support them and I think that’s why they continue to play well.”

Garvey’s squad started the year 0-4 before winning three of their next four coming into Thursday. The 2022 Western Slope coach of the year — who led that group to an undefeated league mark before taking the 2023 assembly to the state tournament — said this Eagle Valley team is very unique.

“I don’t know if I’ve had a team like this in awhile,” he said. “The girls just believe in each other. Everybody comes to practice every day, works hard, treats each other well — the trust factor is just through the roof. That’s such an advantage to you when you struggle; you’re not worrying about anything else. You can just focus on what you have to do in the game.”

The fourth set was a microcosm of the momentum shifts felt throughout the entire night. Eagle Valley went up 5-2 before a 9-1 Husky run. The Devils strung together four straight to come within one, but the Huskies responded with six more to make it 17-10. Student sections understandably traded the “whose your daddy?” chant, with Battle Mountain bellowing the final phrase after sealing a 25-21 victory.

“The environment was great,” Garvey pointed out.

Battle Mountain opened the final with three-straight points, but Weatherred and Aguilar helped Eagle Valley claw back and take a 10-7 lead. Aguilar landed her second kill attempt off a miracle marathon rally — which included Weatherred launching herself at the floor to dig out a Goehring spike and Reese Wright coming up with a save out of nowhere — to make it 11-7. Goehring was blocked on the ensuing possession and it seemed like it was all Devils.

“When the ball comes up short and it gets right into the double block, then we have a hard time,” Graves said. “As soon as we started setting more to the pin, that’s when things started opening up for us.”

The adjustment brought Goehring front and center. Her fourth kill of the set made it 13-13. Weatherred then sent a strong shot to the corner, but it went out of bounds. Garvey called time, but the Devils came out of the huddle and fumbled the serve-receive to give the Huskies the win.

“It was just a hard fight. We were trying to earn every point we could, let go of errors and work as a team to get back,” Weatherred said. “It was a tough loss, but we’re proud of the way we fought for it.”

Battle Mountain improved to 3-0 on the year with the win. While Orona’s injury presents a potential setback, Graves said he thinks this team is even better than last year’s.

“And that’s saying a lot,” he added. “Our goal is not only to go back to state, but we want to be highly ranked.”

Eagle Valley (3-6) will have to wait until Oct. 2 for another shot at the Huskies.

“We’re just (going to) move forward and focus on the ultimate goal,” Weatherred stated. “Which is to win every game we can and use this as a fire moving forward.”