Littleton – The cheers coming from high school student sections are typically more taunt than truth.
The crew at Heritage, however, was spot-on Thursday night.
After watching Kristy Jaeckel pound down three early kills against Mountain Vista, the crowd broke into a chorus of “You can’t stop her.” Few could argue.
The 6-foot-2, all-state outside hitter had a game-high 19 kills and 10 straight service winners in the decisive fourth game as seventh-ranked Heritage knocked off the No. 4 Golden Eagles 25-20, 25-17, 21-25, 25-13.
Winners of four straight, the Eagles (10-3, 7-0 in league) strengthened their grip on first place in the Class 5A Continental League while the Golden Eagles dipped to 11-3, 7-1.
“Our crowd is great. They’re really supportive and we love them,” Jaeckel said. “We’ve never really had a crowd before until this year, so it’s really exciting.”
Golden Eagles coach Kevin Cary was less enthusiastic.
“Heritage has one of the best home-court advantages in the state,” he said. “The atmosphere of the crowd, they get into it, and it’s a hard place for opponents to play. It took us out of it tonight, that’s for sure.”
The Golden Eagles also lost libero Lauren Wright before the game when she was hit in the head by a ball during warm-ups. Cary said he thought the senior suffered a concussion.
The Golden Eagles never found their rhythm and could not match Heritage’s aggressive play at the net.
Junior Katey Powers had nine kills for the Eagles, senior Stevie Hurlbirt had eight while setters Krista Hjelm and Hilary Cavanaugh combined for 44 assists.
Sophomore Ariel Turner led the Golden Eagles with 10 kills and a block and junior Sonja Johnson had 14 assists, five kills and one block.
The Eagles dominated the second game behind five kills apiece from Jaeckel and junior middle Ann Dylla before the Golden Eagles clawed back behind Turner in the third game to avoid being swept.
