Volleyball heads into the weekend with the most important matchups set for the smaller schools.  A few are conference matchups that will impact league titles with many others pitting top teams against one another in non-league action.  We preview the best contests.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY JEN METZ

 

CLASS 1A

Belleview Christian is already 14-1 on the season but only one of their matches have come in league play where they are tied with Flatirons Academy and Denver Waldorf for the 5280-conference lead.  Rocky Mountain Lutheran is 2-1 in the conference and needs an upset tonight to stay in the title discussion.

Another league contest can be found in the North Central as Prairie visits Briggsdale.  The Falcons are alone in first (3-0) and have a win over Fleming so they want to keep that advantage going into the rematch on October 8th.  The teams have played once before with the Falcons grabbing a 3-0 sweep in late August.  Kylie Krise had 16 kills in that win as Briggsdale outhit Prairie 32-17.  Peyton Nicklas added 24 assists, Jillian Bauer 13 digs and Macie Klem five aces.

Stratton (6-2) sees their first action since last Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Wiley and they will be favored against Arickaree/Woodlin (5-5).  Stratton’s offense is directed by Sedonia Isenbart who has 178 assists.  Many of them have gone to Kennedy Frank (72 kills) and McKenna Notter (58).  A-Woodlin is 5-5 overall and not has won or lost more than two matches in a row.  They slammed Miami Yoder 3-0 in their last contest on Friday.  Joslyn King leads them with 76 kills and Raya Schrock has 66.  Lily Monat has 92 assists.

Another non-league contest of note features Sangre De Cristo (4-4) against 2A Sanford (5-0).  Both are favored to win their respective Southern Peaks division.  The T-Birds have just one loss against a 1A team (Cheraw) but haven’t played in eight days since beating Primero in three.  Top hitters include Ashley Mortensen, Kamryn Rogers and Peyton Metz.

Sanford scored a league opening 3-0 win over Center on Tuesday.  They also get a nice pairing with 3A Centauri next week so this is a good early stretch for them.  With six players in double figures in kills, the offense is balanced but led by Josie Peterson with 29 kills.  The Indians have 53 aces in their five matches including 11 from Makenzie Reynolds.

CLASS 2A

The first focus is on the Western Slope where Meeker and West Grand share the conference lead.  West Grand is off this weekend but they scored three wins in as many days last week.  The down time allows them plenty of prep time for the showdown with Meeker coming up on October 1st.

Meeker meets Vail Christian tonight.  The Saints are normally a top challenger for the league crown but are off to a 1-2 start and need an upset to tighten up the race a bit.  The Cowboys of course, are led by Emma Luce who has 203 kills in just eight matches, including 46 last week in wins over Cedaredge and Rangely.

Soroco has a league loss to Meeker and enters the weekend in third place.  The Rams take a break from the conference schedule by facing Calhan on the road tonight ahead of their appearance in the Simla Tournament on Saturday.  Soroco swept Moffat County last week behind 11 kills, 16 digs and four aces from Peyton Parker.  Irene Hoff added 21 assists and eight aces.

Calhan opened 0-3 but has won seven in a row.  They’ve dropped just one set in their winning streak but the Rams will represent their strongest opponent in the stretch.  Senior sisters Danae Meyers (94) and Danika Meyers (88) are 1-2 in kills for the Bulldogs.

CLASS 3A

The Intermountain league has another busy Friday with Centauri heading to Bayfield and Alamosa going to Montezuma Cortez.  Alamosa also meets Bayfield on Saturday so it’s a busy week for the Moose and Wolverines.  Bayfield (2-0) is alone in first with Alamosa and Centauri both 1-1.  Defending league champion Montezuma Cortez is 0-2 but is not out of what should be a very exciting league race through the entire schedule.

Bayfield has league wins over Cortez and Pagosa Springs.  Annie Fusco, with 147 kills, is their top hitter and registered 17 against the Panthers and 19 vs the Pirates.  Emily Nelson added 13 in the win over Pagosa.

Alamosa has won three straight and seven of eight.  In league play, they swept Centauri but fell to Pagosa Springs in five.  Avery Mobbley has 92 kills and Malia Tuitio-Mariner 76

Centauri stayed in the early chase with a 3-0 sweep of Pagosa Springs.

SATURDAY

Tournaments can be found in Akron and Simla on Saturday and we’ll update with brackets on both events as we receive them.

There’s also a big conference between Brighton and Rangeview in Class 5A.  The Bulldogs and Raiders routinely battle for the East Metro crown and their annual meeting comes very early in the conference schedule.

Brighton (7-2) is favored as they feature two of the best players you may not have heard of.  Juniors Andi Jackson (76 kills) and Evelyn Udezue (75) are likely high division one recruits in two years.

 

 

Akron Tournament

 

Pool #1

Pool #2
9:00am Akron vs Otis Arickaree/Woodlin vs Holyoke
10:15am Byers vs Otis Holyoke vs Union Colony
11:30am Akron vs Byers Arickaree/Woodlin vs Union Colony
5th Place Pool 1 #3 vs Pool 2 #3  
3rd Place Pool 1 #2 vs Pool 2 #2  
Championship Pool 1 #1 vs Pool 2 #1