Entering the last weekend of the regular season, the Santa Fe and Western Slope conferences have yet to crown a champion. We break down those races and look ahead to district tournaments in all areas of the state in our weekly 2A Volleyball report.
BLACK FOREST
Simla’s win over Peyton on Tuesday gave the Cubs the league championship as they have just one more conference game remaining and a one game lead on Colorado Springs School. The Cubs close the regular season at home against Dolores Huerta and will cruise into the district tournament as the number one seed.
Colorado Springs School has clinched second place and will be the number two seed. Calhan can clinch third place by beating Fountain Valley on Tuesday. The Bulldogs also finish the regular season with a good test against Limon on Saturday.
LOWER PLATTE
Yuma downed Caliche on Tuesday to wrap up their fourth consecutive league championship. The Indians are 17-1 overall and will focus on the post-season run after facing Sterling in non-league play on Thursday night.
Haxtun will be opposite Yuma in the district bracket. The Bulldogs clinched second place by sweeping Holyoke on Tuesday night.
One more league match between Holyoke and Wray on Friday will help determine spots three through five. The Dragons are 4-3 and tied with Wiggins and Merino in third place. The Tigers and Rams have both concluded their league schedule at 5-3.
If Holyoke falls at Wray, then Merino jumps to third based on their head-to-head win over Wiggins and the Tigers end up fourth. The Dragons would also tumble all the way to sixth with Wray claiming the fifth spot.
A Holyoke win leaves all three teams in third place and then tiebreakers will be needed for district tournament seeding. Head to head is the first tiebreaker and since the three teams all beat each other, the next step in percentage of sets won in the matches between the three.
SANTA FE
The final regular season match between Swink and Fowler on Thursday will finalize the top three positions in the league chase. Swink improved to 11-2 and into a first place with Fowler by sweeping Swallows Charter on Tuesday night. Fowler is a game back in third place at 10-3.
Hoehne finishes the league schedule at Swallows Charter on Thursday and thus should get to 12-2 as their final mark. Swink also gets there by beating Fowler on Thursday. If that happens, Hoehne gets the number one seed based on the third tiebreaker of point differential in sets played between the two. Hoehne is plus 10 in that category. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head and the second tiebreaker is percentage of sets won and in both cases, the teams were still knotted.
If Fowler wins the Thursday clash, then Hoehne is the league champion and top seed with the tiebreaker needed to determine second between the Grizzlies and Lions. Since the second match has not been played, the tiebreaker cannot be completely figured out just yet. But Swink has a huge advantage since they won the first meeting in three sets. If the Lions win at least one set, they will be the number two team. Fowler needs a sweep with a point of advantage of at least 14 to move past the Lions in the league standings.
Getting a top two seed is very important in the district format this year as the two clubs automatically qualify for the championship round. The remaining six teams must win one or two matches next week to get there.
John Mall secures the fourth district seed by beating Las Animas on Thursday. The Panthers grabbed a three-game win in the first meeting.
MILE HIGH
Lyons and Union Colony head to the final few days of the regular season tied for the conference lead with one loss apiece but the Lions won the head-to-head meeting and have the inside track to the top overall district seed. The Lions simply need to beat Twin Peaks Charter Thursday night to win the crown.
Union Colony has concluded their regular season schedule and clinched no worse than the number two seed by beating Longmont Christian on Tuesday night.
Dayspring Christian and Denver Christian are in a similar battle for third place as both have two league losses. Dayspring Christian beat the Thunder head-to-head so they get third place by beating Longmont Christian on Thursday. The Eagles also have an interesting non-league date with Resurrection Christian on Friday.
Denver Christian scored a huge five-set win over Dawson on Tuesday and has another tough test at Highland on Thursday. It’s the regular season finale for both clubs.
Looking at districts, it doesn’t matter which team ends up third in the conference race as Denver Christian moves away from the conference and in with the likes of Burlington, Byers and Limon for post-season play next week. That means Dayspring Christian will end up as the number three seed for next week.
Denver Christian’s district will be seeded by RPI. The Thunder are currently 13th and Limon 14th (as of Wednesday) so the two are battling for the top overall seed. Byers is next in line at #36.
SAN JUAN
Dolores has yet to drop a conference match and with two games remaining, the Bears have already clinched the championship and top district seed. They lead both Telluride and Ridgway by three games in the league standings. The Bears have two matches remaining against Norwood (Thursday) and Ouray (Saturday).
Ridgway and Telluride meet for a second time on Friday and that result should determine the second and third seeds for the district tournament. Dove Creek is in second place in the conference standings but will drop into the 1A division for district and regional tournament action.
SOUTHERN PEAKS
With four league matches left on their schedule, Sargent is in complete control of the championship race. The Farmers lead Sanford and Del Norte by three games apiece so they need to win just one more match to clinch a tie and two more to win the championship outright. The Farmers head to Custer County on Thursday, host Del Norte on Friday and then have two matches at Cripple Creek on Saturday.
Sanford and Del Norte split two regular season matches but that tie could be broken if Sargent beats Del Norte on Friday. Custer County has four league losses and is still in the mix for a top three district seed.
In addition to the Friday date with Sanford, Del Norte heads to Center on Saturday. Sanford has one league match left against Center on Friday. After meeting Sargent on Thursday, Custer County entertains South Park on Friday.
UNION PACIFIC
Each team has one league match remaining on Thursday but Limon has already clinched the league championship. The Badgers are 4-0 and lead Stratton/Liberty (3-1) by one game plus they beat the Knighted Eagles in an earlier league match.
The race for second through fifth could still see some changes. Results from all three matches this week will be needed to determine those positions. Stratton/Liberty faces Burlington and the Knighted Eagles are the runner-up team with a win there. If Burlington wins and Byers also upsets Limon, then all three teams are tied for second place.
A possible three-way tie for third is also possible if Stratton/Liberty beats Burlington, Limon beats Byers and Genoa Hugo tops Deer Trail. That scenario leaves Burlington, Byers and Genoa Hugo tied for third with three losses apiece.
Tiebreakers won’t be needed for district seeding as the league splits up quite a bit for the post-season. Burlington, Byers and Limon join with Denver Christian and Front Range Christian in Class 2A and as mentioned the Badgers are battling with Denver Christian for the top overall seed. Genoa Hugo, Stratton/Liberty and Deer Trail drop into the 1A division and join with teams from the 1A Black Forest for district activity.
WESTERN SLOPE
Meeker remains unbeaten in conference play but the Cowboys still have much work to do before claiming the top trophy. They have matches with Paonia and Rangely Friday and Saturday and both opponents are just one game back in the league race. Rangely also beat Meeker in a non-conference five setter earlier this year so the race is far from over.
Rangely topped Paonia last week but a loss to West Grand the night before dropped the Panthers out of first place. The Panthers also host Vail Christian on Friday before facing Meeker.
Paonia has three matches left on their schedule including a tough road trip to Vail Mountain on Saturday. The Gore Rangers are battling West Grand for the fourth and fifth spots.
If the three top contenders win all matches other than their head-to-head meetings, the scenarios play out like this. Meeker of course is the league champion by winning both matches. If they lose twice, the Cowgirls tumble to third and Rangely takes the trophy based on last week’s win over Paonia.
If Meeker beats Paonia on Friday but loses to Rangely on Saturday; the Panthers again take the title and Meeker is second with Paonia third. If results are the opposite, then Meeker is the conference champion with Rangely second and Paonia third.
