Tournaments dominated the weekend schedule and many events experienced surprise winners where small schools moved past those in higher classes to claim championships. 1A Prairie won the Brush Tournament, 1A Fleming captured top honors at the Machebeuf tournament and 3A Sterling downed several 4A teams to land the Silver Creek tournament crown. And for the first time in many seasons, Lewis Palmer did not win their own classic.
Our second installment of our Volleyball Rewind looks back at those events and many other clubs who picked up important wins through the week.
CLASS 1A
Prairie continues to reap big benefits from the return of senior Hannah Kinnison. The Mustangs not only scored top honors at the Brush Invitational on Saturday, but they also gathered the early lead in the rugged North Central conference with their win over Briggsdale earlier in the week. Kinnison powered down 29 kills in that victory and also led the Mustangs with 31 digs. Emma Stump also put together a strong effort with 10 kills and four aces. Makayla Baker handed out a whopping 54 assists and also collected 11 digs in the crucial victory. Prairie now has conference wins over both Weldon Valley and Prairie and will battle Fleming in the first of two meetings on the 27th.
At the Brush event, the Mustangs earned the top trophy with a five-set win over Wiggins. Kinnison provided 17 kills and 11 digs and Baker again directed the attack with a team-best 31 assists. Bobbie Schreiner added eight kills while Stump and Cierra Hove added six apiece.
Fleming took out conference rival Peetz on Friday night and then had a very quick turnaround for a 9:00am match in Aurora on Saturday. They took on and beat host Machebeuf at that tournament and then won three other matches against larger schools to claim the championship. They downed Prospect Ridge, a team that made the 3A state tournament last year, in the title match.
Stats have not been posted yet for Fleming’s run through Saturday but the Wildcats won the title despite have a very young roster. Junior Kendyl Kirkwood is the top setter and is seeing more time at the net this year while sophomore Whitney Chintala leads the team in kills. Zoe Vandenbark is another sophomore contributor while freshmen Kally Kirkwood and Alaina Schliesser are also playing important roles.
The Wildcats, who have dropped a North Central match to Briggsdale, faces another key league test against Weldon Valley on Friday.
Lost in the shuffle of strong tournament results for Prairie and Fleming is a very good week for Genoa Hugo. The Pirates faced three quality opponents over a five day stretch and picked up two wins and dropped a hard fought five setter. They swept Stratton/Liberty to open the week and closed up action with a thrilling five set win over tradition rich Otis. In between was another five set battle with 2A power Limon. Efforts in all three matches should give Genoa Hugo enough confidence to make a serious post-season run.
Ryely Smart had a huge week. She had 23 kills against Limon and added another 30 against Otis. Tessa Smith had 35 assists against hte Badgers and another 44 versus the Bulldogs. Glorya Carr totaled 31 kills overall while Shae Withington had 17 digs against Limon and Mindi Carr 18 in the win over Otis.
The remaining schedule is favorable for Genoa Hugo. The Pirates will be favored in every match until their regular season closing contest with Kit Carson.
CLASS 2A
Limon’s five-set win over Genoa Hugo on Thursday was one of two marathon matches for the second ranked Badgers. They also worked a full five games on Saturday as they scored a huge win at Yuma. It’s not new for the program as they’re coming off a wild state tournament appearance where they played three five-set contests. Both wins were important. The Genoa Hugo victory should give Limon the Union Pacific championship and the win over Yuma allowed them to get a mental hurdle against the defending state champions.
Against Genoa Hugo, Sidney Hines and Trista Marx shared hitting honors with 12 kills apiece. Michiah Leeper added eight. Brooke Younger registered 10 digs and seven teammates recorded at least two. Amy Weisensee finished with 18 assists and Lauren Stang 11.
Hines (16-5) and Marx (15-4) combined for 31 kills and nine aces against Yuma. It was a great match as three of the five sets were decided by four points including game five (15-11). Younger again topped the defense with 13 digs and Hines added ten. Weisensee (15) and Stang (11) again shared setting duties and finished with 26 total assists.
The loss to Limon ended a 1-2 week for Yuma. The defending state champs continue to determine roles for the new faces in the lineup. They should get back to five hundred against Burlington on Tuesday and then have a key league match against Akron on Thursday. The Rams were a pre-season top 10 team.
Dolores had a strong week as they strive to win the San Juan conference. The Bears shared the title with 1A Dove Creek last year but gained an early advantage this year by beating the Bulldogs 3-0 last week. Sydney Smith had 12 kills, Jordan Elder 10 and Erin Brown eight. Elder added three aces and five blocks while Brown provided 25 digs. Freshman Carlie McLellan had 18 assists and sophomore Kammi Wilbanks 15.
The Bears also scored an important 3-1 win over Telluride as Elder registered 20 kills and four aces. Wilbanks also had four aces to go along with 21 assists.
Up next for Dolores is a league test with Mancos. The Bluejays beat top 10 rival Ignacio last week but then came up short to Telluride. Those three teams figure to battle for second place behind Dolores in the 2A portion of the league standings. Mancos and Telluride collide later this week.
Union Colony Prep will move up the rankings ladder. They’re 6-0 after moving past Clear Creek in three games. Mayson Fago had 21 kills and 16 digs. Kamryn Arnold added 14 kills and Desirae Pisano matched Fago with 16 digs. She also led the Timberwolves with 28 assists.
The ‘Wolves have a tough week on tap as they meet Highland in league play and then finish with Wiggins on Saturday.
Wiggins had a busy week as well. As mentioned, they lost a tough five set match to Prairie as part of the Brush Tournament but while there, they also avenged an earlier loss to local rival Weldon Valley. Weldon Valley won the River Rivalry matchup in five sets the week before with Wiggins returning the favor in three games last Saturday.
Also want to mention Sanford. The Indians had an up and down week as they beat top 10 Swink in non-league play but then dropped a conference contest with local rival Del Norte two nights later. They rallied from 0-2 down to stun Swink; winning the final three sets 25-23, 25-22 and 15-10. But they fell to 3-4 on the season with the Del Norte loss.
CLASS 3A
To keep our tournament theme alive, we begin the division report with Sterling. The Tigers won the Silver Creek Tournament on Saturday; beating four Class 4A teams in doing so. The championship win came over a Coronado club that was ranked in the 4A Top 10 last week and the Tigers picked up the two-game sweep. Sydney Henry had 10 kills and 15 digs to lead the Tigers in both categories. Valarie Allen and Kaylee Johnson chipped in six kills apiece and Allie Schumacher added 10 digs. She also led Sterling with 18 assists.
Up this week is league play for Sterling as the Tigers meet Estes Park, Brush and Liberty Common. And in a good bit of scheduling, the conference championship may not be decided until the final week as Sterling doesn’t face Eaton until October 29th.
Eaton didn’t quite win a tournament title but the Reds also had a strong showing the Eaglecrest Tournament. The Reds went 3-1 at the tournament to land third place. Wins came against 5A rivals Fossil Ridge and Brighton and they also topped traditional 4A power Cheyenne Mountain. The semifinal loss came against 5A Pine Creek. The Reds have another good test with Faith Christian this week and won’t open Patriot action until the 24th against Resurrection Christian.
Faith Christian picked up a tournament championship at Jefferson Academy but the competition did not match that of Sterling or Eaton. The Eagles moved past the likes of Northfield, Arrupe Jesuit, Stargate and the host Jaguars in tournament play. As mentioned, the schedule stiffens this week with the match against Eaton. They also face Platte Valley on Thursday and those two matches should give the Eagles a better read on how they stack up against some of the division’s best programs.
The Eagles also seem to be the top challenger to defending state champion Lutheran inside the Metro. The Lions won their second straight match to open the season and did so again with out returning Player of the Year Payton Brgoch. And for the second straight match, younger sister Audrey Brgoch paced the Lions offense. She had nine kills. Kennedey Johnson added eight.
Alamosa and Lamar picked up crucial early conference wins over the week. The Mean Moose traveled all the way to Cortez and edged the Panthers in five sets. Those two clubs likely will finish 1-2 in the Intermountain league so the Moose, who won the title without a league loss last year, has the advantage thanks to the road win. Getting the victory was not easy as the Moose rallied from a 2-1 deficit by winning game four 25-14 and game five 15-8. It appears their state tournament experience from last year may have been the difference.
Lamar also took a major step to a top two finish in the Tri Peaks thanks to a 3-0 win over improved St Mary’s. The Savages must still get by the likes of La Junta and Manitou Springs but they seem to be the top threat to Colorado Springs Christian for that conference crown.
Senior Maddy Williams topped Lamar with 15 kills and freshman Sydney Dunning added 13. Another freshman, Abby Robbins, added 30 assists and 14 digs. Gabby Marquez also registered 15 kills for the Savages. St Mary’s collected 18 kills from Rachel Wilcox.
CLASS 4A
Probably the biggest news of the week came at the Lewis Palmer tournament where the Rangers did not win the championship. They settled for third place following a semifinal loss to Pueblo West. The win was huge for a Pueblo West program that has seen tremendous success over the past decade but has not been able to post a quality win outside their conference. That streak ended on Saturday as they toppled the Rangers in Monument. West missed out on the overall championship with a tough loss to 5A Ralston Valley later in the day.
For Lewis Palmer, the setback was their first to a 4A program other than Cheyenne Mountain since 2011. That came against Roosevelt in the regional tournament that year. The loss was the first to any 4A opponent since falling to Cheyenne Mountain in the 2015 state finals. The Rangers are the three-time defending state champions.
Both the Rangers and Cheyenne Mountain have combined to win the last 12 state championships in Class 4A but each sits at 4-3 entering the week. Those records are a bit misleading as both clubs routinely play the most difficult non-conference schedules of any team in the class. But the difference this year is that the two clubs are falling short in some of the matches they’ve easily won in the past and that gives other teams hope that maybe a different program will end up with the championship trophy this November.
There are several contenders this year but they have spent the first month of the season beating up on one another so it’s difficult to name a top challenger. Mead is 5-1 but they lost to 2A #1 Denver Christian at the Glenwood Springs Tournament; Discovery Canyon (7-1) dropped a match to Pueblo County while the Hornets (6-1) have a loss to Coronado. The Cougars as mentioned lost to Sterling and also dropped a match to Lewis Palmer but have also beaten Palmer Ridge and Silver Creek. Silver Creek also lost to Erie at their own tournament this past weekend. Palmer Ridge beat Pueblo West but the Cyclones as mentioned knocked off Lewis Palmer. Holy Family is just 2-5 but has played a strong schedule and Montrose (6-2) lost to Pueblo West and 3A Bayfield at the Lewis Palmer tournament.
CLASS 5A
Raise your hand if you had Broomfield and Ralston Valley collecting tournament championships over the weekend. Broomfield stunned Cherry Creek to win the annual Bruins Classic and as mentioned, Ralston Valley went unbeaten to land the Lewis Palmer event. Neither was expected to land the top trophy at the beginning of Saturday.
Vicki Fankell had nine kills and Hope Hanak-Harper eight as Broomfield upset Cherry Creek. The Eagles moved to 7-0 with the win and should grab some solid Top 10 recognition when the new polls come out on Monday. Their schedule likely kept them out of the rankings before last week but the four wins on Saturday could be enough to get them in the polls.
Ralston Valley scored quality wins over Niwot, Valley and Pueblo West to land their championship trophy. They moved to 8-2 on the season and could get some top 10 votes in 5A as well. The Mustangs have losses to Evergreen (4A) and Cherry Creek on the year.
Mountain Vista also landed a tournament title as they captured the Eaglecrest event. The Golden Eagles opened 2019 with losses to powers Cherry Creek and Grandview but haven’t dropped a match since. Mandi Ruby and Breklyn Pullung led the way as both were named to the all-tournament squad.
Unranked to begin the season, Rampart is suddenly pushing for a spot in the top three. The Rams opened last week at #6 but a win over then #3 Legend should push them higher in the polls. Rampart won the match in three sets as Riley Simpson finished with 16 kills and Caitlin Kincaid eight. Grace Wilkinson added 19 digs and Ashlyn Phar dished out 31 assists. Now the Rams embark on their 4A portion of their schedule as they meet in-city rivals Palmer Ridge this week and Lewis Palmer and Cheyenne Mountain next week.
Chaparral continues to roll along as they picked up sweeps over both Lewis Palmer and Cheyenne Mountain. As pointed out earlier, the Rangers and Indians have combined for the last 12 4A championships so that was no easy feat. Emma Ammeran and Tiffany Little each had seven kills against L-P and Katie Dalton ended up with 14 assists. Ponderosa and Mountain Vista are on the schedule this week as the rugged Continental league opens their schedule.
