DENVER – From the second Delaney Lauer’s kill attempt touched the floor for match point, University girls volleyball coach Jared Rudiger was trying to hold back tears.
The longtime coach watched from the stands a year ago as the Bulldogs went 1-2 at the Class 4A state tournament and there was no telling if he was going to make his way back to the floor. He was away from the Bulldogs for personal reasons. But he put the work that allowed him to get back to his team and back to the Denver Coliseum where University swept Windsor 25-17, 25-23, 25-16 to win the second state championship in program history.
“This journey has been challenging and it’s also been rewarding,” Rudiger said. “There’s been a lot of soul searching amongst myself, my family and this entire program. It’s pretty dynamic to win a state championship with this group.”
It’s quite the group.
His daughter Kenley Rudiger is on his roster and she has the good fortune to be setting a classmate in Lauer, who went well north of 300 kills this year.
Claiming a team as family is nothing new in athletics, but as Rudiger weighed the choice of coming back to coach at University, it was this family that called him to action, and the reward was well worth it.
“It hasn’t hit me yet,” he said. “I’ve been non-emotional with this group because because it’s been so emotional inside for me.”
The Bulldogs (24-5) join elite company as a 4A volleyball champion. Only four programs had won a 4A title since 2008 and University now becomes the fifth. In varying stretches, Cheyenne Mountain, Lewis-Palmer, Palmer Ridge and Thompson Valley have owned the classification.
Perhaps the era of the Bulldogs begins now.
“There’s not really a team out here like this in Colorado and especially for being in northern Colorado,” Lauer said. “It feels great being out here winning.”
And they did it with an overpowering style. This wasn’t a team that had to figure out how to play from behind because they nearly led each set wire to wire.
Playing with that lead allowed them to be free of any pressure of making a mistake.
“Especially having played Windsor in the regular season and yesterday,” Lauer said. “It gives us a clear of view of what to expect [when we have the lead].”
This is the first state title for the Bulldogs since they claimed the 3A title in 2021. They needed four sets to beat Lamar that year, and even dropped the first.
There was no waiting to get going. University and Windsor traded points for about half of the first set before the Bulldogs rode kills from Lauer and Jordan Halley to gain some distance.
And from that point on, it was like Rudiger’s return to the bench. There was no looking back, there was only pushing forward.
(Dan Mohrmann/ColoradoPrpes.com)
