It was a very busy and important Saturday of volleyball across the state as several tournaments were played and some key conference matches took place out west.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY ZACH ODELL / PUEBLO WEST HS

Let’s start with the tournament roundup where Pueblo West picked up the top trophy at the prestigious Lewis Palmer Tournament.  Six of the 12 teams in the field were ranked in either 3A, 4A or 5A but the Cyclones were not a member of that list.  They still ran to the championship downing Windsor in the semifinals and then beat Legend in the title match.  The final score in the championship match was 2-1.

West has now won five straight matches since opening the season with back to back losses against Pine Creek and Rampart.   We spoke with head coach Casey King after the championship and you can hear that interview here.

West has one more non-conference match against Doherty on the 15th before beginning defense of their South-Central league crown.

Windsor earned third place by downing Thompson Valley 2-0.

Cherry Creek entered their own tournament ranked second in Class 5A and the Bruins raced to four straight wins and the championship this afternoon.  They swept Heritage for the championship after also sweeping 10th ranked Broomfield in the semifinals.  The Bruins are 6-0 and will next step on the court against Denver East next Tuesday.

Resurrection Christian picked off the crown at Machebeuf high school today; winning all four matches.  Included in that run was a nice opening victory over 5th ranked DSST-Montview.  Resurrection Christian opened the day ranked sixth in Class 3A.

Faith Christian Eagles win the Jefferson Academy tourney title.

Fellow Metro member Faith Christian earned the gold medal at the Jefferson Academy shootout.  The Eagles topped Golden 2-1 and Manitou Springs 2-0 on Saturday.

Brush did not crown an overall champion at their tournament today but three teams ended the day without a loss.  Class 2A Holyoke was joined by 1A rivals Haxtun and Idalia as unbeatens through the event.

Belleview Christian was awarded through a tiebreaker the Bethune tournament championship.  The fifth ranked Bruins suffered their first loss of the season and ended the round-robin schedule with a 2-1 record.  Idalia and Arickaree/Woodlin also won two of the three matches.  Cheyenne Wells placed fourth.

The tournament was moved from Bethune to Arickaree high school as the Bobcats went into quarantine.  Wiley was also unable to play due to the tragedy at their school earlier in the week.

Outside of tournament play, there were quite a few important matches.

  • Palisade is already alone atop the 4A Western Slope as they moved past Eagle Valley in four sets. Those two clubs shared the championship a year ago and will meet again on October 1st.  For the Bulldogs, it was their third win in two days as they swept Summit and Battle Mountain on Friday.
  • Meeker won the battle of unbeatens as they outlasted Soroco in four sets. The Cowboys improved to 6-0 overall while the Rams slid to 5-1.  Another important conference game in the 2A/1A West Slope came on Friday as Vail Christian handed 10th ranked Olathe their first loss (3-2).
  • Sedgwick County is ranked second in Class 2A – Cougars worked four sets before collecting a nice win over #3 Briggsdale from Class 1A.  It was the second win Briggsdale for the Cougars this year as the two battled through five sets back in the opening week.
  • Top ranked Lamar (3A) cruised to a Tri Peaks opening win at Buena Vista; winning in straight sets. It was the second win of the week for the Savages who also bested 6A Garden City (KS) on the road back on Tuesday.
  • Number one Fleming (1A) took out Flagler in three sets this afternoon. Stratton and Sangre De Cristo are two teams that have been in the top 10 this year and could return when new polls come out on Monday.  Stratton scored a nice win over Otis (3-0) and the T-Birds stuffed 2A Swink; also 3-0.