DENVER — What do you do when the other team won’t quit? You don’t quit — harder.

That’s the mindset that Madi Smith and her Eaton teammates had as they staved off tenacious Alamosa in four sets, three of which were decided by two points, to capture the Class 3A state volleyball championship on Saturday at the Denver Coliseum. It’s Eaton’s 11th championship overall and first since 2020.

“They’re a good team and they refused to quit. But we said if we control our side of the court and refuse to quit even harder, then they cannot beat us,” said Madi Smith, Eaton’s senior outside hitter who led the team with 368 kills entering the championship. “We refused to (quit).”

The third-seeded Reds won the first two sets 26-24 and 25-17, and led by as many as four points in the third set. But the Mean Moose rallied and scored eight of the set’s final 10 points for a 25-23 win.

Eaton led by as many as five points in the final set. But Alamosa, once down 16-11, stampeded back to tie the game at 20. The teams then embarked on a mad dash to glory. From there, Eaton’s lead never exceeded two points and Alamosa at one point led 25-24. Each point carried more weight and elicited more cheers than the last.

“We knew we had to serve well, we knew we had to pass well. They have a great hitting team, they have a great blocking team. So we did that. For the most part, we served really well, we serve received really well,” said Matthew Meagher, Eaton’s head coach. “We caused a lot of issues; we kept them out of their rotations quite a bit. They weren’t able to get as many hits as they wanted and that was a huge key for us.”

Late in the match, Eaton’s entire team huddled up and Meagher took center stage. Not long after, Eaton rallied off three points to seal the win

“I’ve been telling them all year that they are good enough and that they just have to be themselves and do what they can do, and that’s what they did,” said Meagher, who added that Smith is “the player of the year. If she doesn’t get player of the year in 3A, something’s wrong.”

Meagher once coached middle school volleyball in the area, then was the head honcho for Highland, about five miles north of Eaton.

Meagher took over as the Eaton coach last year and this year, loaded with 10 seniors, looked to push the team over the hump after three consecutive semifinal exits.

“The culture that they’ve created has just been absolutely amazing. They did this, they put this in. We gave them the pieces, we gave them the tools,” A hoarse Meagher said. “For them to come back, you see them on the court and holding hands together, that’s their reset. They believe in each other so much that they were able to come out and do this.”

The only losses for Eaton (25-4) this season were to 5A champion Valor Christian, 5A Legend, 4A runner-up Windsor and 4A Montrose. Eaton was the only team this season to beat Alamosa (27-2).

Alamosa opened the tournament with 3-1 wins over No. 8 Sterling and No. 12 The Village, then overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat The Classical Academy 3-2.

The Mean Moose were in their first title game since 1996, when they beat Windsor for their only state volleyball title to date.

The Reds entered the championship after taking 3-1 wins over No. 6 Bayfield, No. 7 The Classical Academy and No. 2 Resurrection Christian, who was two years removed from capturing the 3A title. The Reds’ previous titles came in 2020, each year from 2013-2017, 2011, 2000, 1997 and 1993.

“It’s the culture of Eaton,” Smith said. “We win state titles.”

(Dan Mohrmann/ColoradoPrpes.com)