The Hayden Tigers invited their rivals from the south to town for a cross-county matchup on the volleyball court Thursday night. 

Soroco battled late in the third set in hopes of extending the match, but Hayden proved to be too much for the Rams, leading to a 3-0 Tigers’ victory. 

“Winning and losing as a team brings us closer together,” Hayden coach Becky Copeland said. “We had a rough week last week, so we really regrouped on Monday, talked about what we needed to work on and I think they see that working together helps them win and keeps them going.”

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Copeland gave props to sophomore libero Kobi Ortiz, whom Copeland said has done a great job digging from the back row and being a young leader for the Tigers. 

“My back row stayed where they needed to be,” Copeland said. “They stayed in the back row and didn’t get sucked up, which has kind of been an issue for us in the past. It worked out today.”

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Hayden dominated the opening two sets, overpowering Soroco with kills at the net and challenging serves. The Tigers’ height at the front — including juniors Taryn Schlim and Cydny Witherell — created a wall the Rams could not penetrate on early hits. 

Soroco dropped the first two sets 25-14 and 25-19. The short break between sets gave the Rams time to rest and refocus. The third set went back-and-forth and ultimately came down to the final points of the set when a foot fault on a Soroco serve solidified the match for the Tigers. 

Hayden improved to a 4-7 record on the season but remains in search of its first league victory. The Tigers will travel to Parachute on Saturday for their next match against Grand Valley. 

Soroco is now 1-7 on the season as of Friday morning, but the Rams are set to play two matches this weekend — one against Rangely Friday night and another against North Park on Saturday.