COLORADO SPRINGS – There was no getting through the Niwot blockers on the road to the Class 4A girls volleyball semifinals. Or around them. Or even over them.
Cheyenne Mountain’s attack had been consistent all year. It was good enough to earn the No. 2 overall seed in the playoffs and to also win a regional championship. It just wasn’t good enough beat No. 6 Niwot.
The Cougars turned away everything the Red-Tailed Hawks could think to throw at them to get a 25-15, 25-20, 25-21 and advance to the 4A semifinals. Them getting there by throwing a bit of a block party seemed to stun the Cheyenne Mountain players and fans, but it was far from a surprise to the girls turning away the shots.
“It wasn’t a surprise because we’ve been working on it as a team and working on tip coverage and closing the seams,” sophomore middle Addison Engel said. “It helps that we’re all really close to each other and talk to each other and give each other pointers.”
And the results are exactly what the Cougars hope they would be. The team finished with 19 total blocks. Engel and Grace Demmel each finished with one solo block and four assisted blocks to lead the team.
The Red-Tailed Hawks got visibly frustrated with the failed attempts to hit through the front line. They tried going around the blocks and tipping over the blocks but couldn’t find success in either avenue.
“We work a lot on tip coverage because we know we’re so tall,” Engel said. “We know that we have a wall there and our passers do a great job at getting there.”
The Cougars are back on the floor tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. for the semifinals where they’ll play the winner of Thompson Valley and Holy Family.
No. 1 Palmer Ridge 3, No. 4 Thompson Valley 0
This may have been the best contested sweep in state tournament history. The Eagles put up a tremendous fight and just couldn’t hold on long enough to take a set. The defending 4A champs rode a mix of veteran experience and youthful ignorance to pull out gritty 25-22, 31-29, 29-27 win.
With the third set tied at 27, Thompson Valley got called for four hits. With the serve now in hand and a one-point lead, the Bears just wanted to get one of their hitters in a position to win the match. That turned out to be freshman Danielle Wilke from the outside. The set was perfect and she knew she wanted to drill the ball down the line to end.
“I knew I had to go down swinging,” she said.
And that she did. She had 12 of the team’s 50 kills through the course of the match. The win puts them right into the semifinals where previous losses (or lack thereof) no longer matter. The state tournament is now win or go home.
After seeing two tough sets from Discovery Canyon on Thursday, a question of emotional sustainability is now at the forefront. Both wins for the Bears have taken a lot of energy despite just one set being dropped. They feel that the two tough wins, if anything, help them rather than hurt them.
“This has been a great experience for a freshman,” Wilke said. “We’re really good and we have a really good team.”
The team will have to continue to be good. They’ll see the winner of Cheyenne Mountain and Discovery Canyon in the semifinals at 12 p.m. on Saturday.
Discovery Canyon, Mead survive elimination
Both Discovery Canyon and Mead lost matches on Thursday putting them at risk of elimination each time they took the floor.
But that didn’t seem to bother either squad. They put together solid runs to move into the Saturday morning matches, which essentially become the state quarterfinals. Discovery Canyon beat Erie then Frederick and will pace PPAC rival Cheyenne Mountain. The winner will Palmer Ridge in the semifinals. The Thunder lost to Cheyenne Mountain 3-1 in the regular season.
Mead held off a dangerous Windsor team before jumping out to a quick lead over Holy Family in Friday’s nightcap and never looking back.
The Mavericks will take on Thompson Valley and it will be the first meeting between the two teams this year.