It’s the final week of regular season play for Class 1A volleyball clubs and we breakdown all league races and take a quick look at the best matches on the schedule.
District tournaments are set for next week and the top three finishers from each advance to eight regional tournament brackets. Winners of those events along with four wildcards advance to the state tournament. Teams must reach regionals to qualify as a wildcard.
LEAGUE BREAKDOWN
- 5280: Mile High Academy (8-0) beat Belleview Christian (7-1) last week to clinch the league championshp. Belleview Christian has also wrapped up second place.
- Ark Valley: Springfield (4-0) is the league champion but second place is still undecided. South Baca has the advantage there and gets the position if they beat Wiley on Tuesday. Springfield has matches with McClave (Thurs) and John Mall (Sat) this week.
- Black Forest: Evangelical Christian (5-1) and Elbert (4-1) share the top spot with ECA holding the tiebreak advantage due to the head-to-head win. The Eagles land the crown by beating third place Pikes Peak Christian (5-2) on Thursday.
- High Plains: Kit Carson (5-0) has clinched the championship and will finish the regular season with road matches at Flagler/Hi Plains and Genoa Hugo Tuesday and Thursday. Second place goes to the winner of Eads and Cheraw on Friday.
- North Central: Fleming’s five set win over Briggsdale last Friday gave the championship to the Wildcats. They finished 7-1 with Briggsdale at 6-2. Fleming has a tough final week against Merino and La Veta on Thursday and Friday. Briggsdale has a tough match at 2A Wiggins on Tuesday.
- Southern Peaks: La Veta and Sangre De Cristo are both 9-0 and they collide on Thursday in La Veta to determine the top two spots. The winner also lands the top district seed next week.
- YWKC: Otis (2-0) has control of the race and will clinch the championship by beating Bethune on Tuesday. Bethune is tied for second with Lone Star.
- Combined Leagues: Merino has clinched the 2A/1A Lower Platte and Dove Creek has easily won the 1A portion of the San Juan conference race. The Bulldogs also trail Dolores by just one game in the race for the overall crown. North Park also seems to be the top 1A team from the Western Slope thanks to a very early win over DeBeque (August). Genoa Hugo ended up second behind 2A Limon in the Union Pacific while Stratton/Liberty and Flagler/Hi Plains meet on Thursday to determine third.
The Springfield Longhorns captured the Ark Valley championship last week and sit 10th in RPI entering the final week. They close the regular season with matches against McClave and John Mall and then will serve as the number one seed for districts next week. PHOTO BY SPRINGFIELD SCHOOLS
TOP MATCHES
- Tuesday: Dove Creek at Telluride. This game is very important to both clubs in the San Juan chase. Each has one league loss so the winner is in great shape to finish second behind Dolores. Telluride also has a match with Dolores next week so they need a win to make that contest important to the title chase. Dove Creek (16-1) could also use a boost to RPI (12th) if they qualify for the state tournament.
- Tuesday: Briggsdale at Wiggins: A very interesting matchup of ranked teams from Class 1A and 2A. Briggsdale is ranked 5th this week with Wiggins number four. They have a combined record of 27-7.
- Thursday – Fleming at Merino: There’s a high probability that this match serves a preview of a district tournament match, possible the championship contest, next week. The outcome could also determine the top overall seed as Merino is 1st in RPI and Fleming 3rd to start the week. Both are league champions and each carries a long winning streak into the contest. Both clubs dropped season openers to Briggsdale with Fleming winning 15 since and Merino 16.
- Thursday – Kit Carson at Genoa Hugo: This is a rematch of the finals of the Stratton Tournament where Kit Carson picked up a 2-1 decision. Game one went to Genoa Hugo 25-23 with the Wildcats rallying for 25-18 and 15-12 wins in games two and three. It’s another game important to RPI as Kit Carson is 2nd and Genoa Hugo 7th this week.
- Thursday – Sangre De Cristo at La Veta: It’s a winner-take-all scenario in the Southern Peaks as both teams are 9-0 in conference play. The winner is the league champion and top district seed while the loser ends up second in both races. Sangre De Cristo is 14th in RPI, six spots behind the Redskins.
- Thursday – Evangelical Christian at Pikes Peak Christian: The result will determine the top three spots in the Black Forest chase. ECA clinches the title with a win but a Pikes Peak Christian win leaves the two teams tied for second with Elbert claiming the league crown.
- Friday – Fleming at La Veta: A matchup that we could easily see a second time in the state tournament. The Redskins will be coming off an important match with Sangre De Cristo the night before while Fleming will have a long road trip. This is part of a volleyball-football doubleheader as well. RPI again plays a role as Fleming is third and could be in contention for the top seed if they also get by Merino earlier in the week. La Veta is unbeaten overall at 17-0 but they’re 8th in RPI.
RPI ENTERING THE WEEK (Top 24)
- Merino
- Kit Carson
- Fleming
- Briggsdale
- Prairie
- Mile High Academy
- Genoa Hugo
- La Veta
- Front Range Baptist
- Springfield
- Otis
- Dove Creek
- South Baca
- Sangre De Cristo
- Belleview Christian
- Flagler/Hi Plains
- Cotopaxi
- Wiley
- Weldon Valley
- Stratton/Liberty
- Haxtun
- Kim/Branson
- Walsh
- Eads
