(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Mackenzie Fidelak gave a verbal commitment to Stanford volleyball, Niwot Athletic Director Chase McBride said in an email to CHSAANow on Monday.

“It’s kind of always been my dream school,” Fidelak said. “My parents have always been really hard on me in school, so academics have always been a priority, and it’s a high level of volleyball. I think it’s the perfect place.”

Fidelak made second team all-state last year with 3.8 kills per set. She has a .329 career hit percentage, 774 kills and 536 digs.

“I always try and work as hard as I can and push those around me to get better,” Fidelak said. “When the people around you are getting better, you’re getting better.”

Fidelak is in the International Baccalaureate program at Niwot and has a 4.318 grade point average. She also runs track at the school.

“It’s hard,” Fidelak said on her balancing act. “There are definitely some nights where I think, ‘How late can I push this? How late can I stay up?’ But, you get through it, and at the end of the year, you look back like wow, I just did that.”

Stanford, the defending champion, is currently the No. 1 team in the nation and is tied for the most titles in Division I women’s volleyball with seven.

“In terms of leadership, it’s something that I’ve always worked on,” Fidelak said. “It’s not necessarily one of my natural abilities to tell people what to do or anything like that. I hope that a coach now, especially being a senior in this program, would say that my leadership has gotten better than it was.”

Fidelak and No. 6 Niwot start the 2017 campaign with a home game on Sept. 5 against Thompson Valley.

“I really want to make it past pool play at state,” Fidelak said. “I’ve been to state twice now, and both times we went 1-1 in pool play and didn’t quite make it through.”

ARVADA — It took some extra time, but Arvada West’s boys soccer team turned the tables on area-rival Standley Lake on Wednesday night at the North Area Athletic Complex.

A year ago, A-West suffered a one-goal loss to the Gators on NAAC. The Wildcats flipped the script Wednesday with a 2-1 victory in double overtime.

“It’s a fun environment for the kids to play in,” A-West coach Troy Gette said. “It really helps us learn how to play in these tight games when it matters toward the end of the season.”

A-West senior Tristan Martinez put in the game-winning goal 33 seconds into the second overtime period. The Wildcats played a short ball out of a corner kick and sophomore Judah Johnston centered a pass to Martinez.

A-West’s Tristan Martinez (9) and teammate Judah Johnston celebrate Martinez’s first-half goal. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

“It was amazing. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Martinez said of the game-winning goal in the 91st minute. “It was a great ball served in by Judah. It was perfectly on the shoulder.”

Martinez shouldered the ball down to his feet and hammered a low shot similar to his first goal of the night in the 15th minute that gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.

“With tall goalkeepers it’s sometimes hard for them to get to the ground,” Martinez said of trying to get the ball past Standley Lake junior goalie Kevin Ruzicka. “That’s exactly where I wanted to put it.”

The win improved A-West to 3-0 on the season and likely will get some consideration to break into the CHSAANow.com Class 5A boys soccer rankings next week. Standley Lake (0-1-1 record) is ranked No. 7 in the 4A preseason poll.

“For early in the season I’m really pleased that we were able to fight back and even it up,” Standley Lake coach Mike Day said. “We had our opportunities to win it in overtime.”

Standley Lake freshman RJ Krapes scored his first goal of his prep career with 1:14 left in regulation time to tie the game 1-1. Krapes fired a sliding shot that rocketed past A-West junior goalie Latham Kleckner and just underneath the crossbar.

Standley Lake senior Weston Short (3) looks for room to operate Wednesday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

The Gators were on the verge of stealing the win when Krapes was taken down in the A-West goalie box midway through the first overtime period to give Standley Lake a penalty shot. However, Standley Lake senior Weston Short’s PK shot sailed over the crossbar to give A-West new life.

A-West is off to a good start with road victories against Mountain Range and Horizon before the 2OT victory against Standley Lake.

“We focused on our start this season,” Gette said. “We have our goals for sure. This is a deep and talented team for sure.”

The Wildcats are coming off a season where they finished second in the 5A Jeffco League behind rival Ralston Valley, but suffered a first-round loss in the postseason.

“We are looking to reclaim that league title,” Martinez said. “Hopefully get it back from Ralston Valley and get them this year.”

Standley Lake also finished second last year in its conference. The Gators took second in the 4A Jeffco League and managed a first-round win before losing to eventual 4A state champion The Classical Academy in the second round. Standley Lake could boost it gave TCA its closest postseason game last year with the Titans edging the Gators 3-2.

Standley Lake hits the road for non-league games against Niwot (noon Saturday, Sept. 2) and Brighton (Tuesday, Sept. 5) coming up. A-West returns to action after Labor Day with games at NAAC next week against Rocky Mountain and Evergreen.

Standley Lake and Arvada West should both contend for conference titles this fall. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

DENVER — Colorado Academy boys soccer wasn’t lacking any offense on Wednesday. The Class 3A No. 3-ranked Mustangs beat Denver Christian 7-0.

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Valor Christian softball beat Mullen 4-3 in a top-five matchup on Wednesday.

Mullen put a run up in the top of the first, but Valor Christian responded with two runs in the bottom half. After two innings, the Eagles led 3-2.

Valor Christian added an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth that they would end up needing as Mullen pushed a run across in the fifth to cut the score to 4-3.

Hannah Hollander had three hits and three runs in the win for the No. 1-ranked Eagles.

Ali Kilponen struck out 12 in a complete game effort on the mound.

Kilponen is now 6-0 with a 0.70 earned-run-average, and has 77 strikeouts to just three walks.

[button color=”white” size=”big” alignment=”none” rel=”follow” openin=”newwindow” url=”https://old.chsaanow.com/sports/softball/scores/”]For other softball scores across the state, click here.[/button]

LITTLETON — Columbine need a rally. And a rally is how the Rebels were able to grab a 7-6 win over No. 6 Douglas County on Wednesday.

Trailing 6-2 going into the bottom of the sixth, the Rebels scored five runs in their final two at-bats to get the upset.

Daysha Mendez went 2-for-4 with a couple of doubles and Cassidi Villano went 3-for-3. They each drove in two runs.

Alley Kim went 2-for-4 with a triple and a RBI for the Huskies.

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The match went the distance, but Ponderosa volleyball came away with an upset win against Class 5A No. 9 Grandview.

The Mustangs had a chance to close it out in four sets, but were unsuccessful. The team came out for the fifth set and made sure to finish.

Ponderosa won 25-21, 20-25, 25-18, 22-25, 15-10.

Grandview’s Georgia Klumker had 28 digs, while senior Payton Wolf recorded 29 assists.

Ponderosa, who received votes in the preseason volleyball poll, starts the season 2-0 with wins over two solid 5A teams in Cherokee Trail and Grandview.

Abigail Hildenbrand leads the Mustangs with her assists, and had 28 against Cherokee Trail.

[button color=”white” size=”big” alignment=”none” rel=”follow” openin=”newwindow” url=”https://old.chsaanow.com/sports/volleyball/scores/”]For other volleyball scores across the state, click here.[/button]

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Posted August 31st, 2017 in Gymnastics results, Results.

Posted August 31st, 2017 in Gymnastics results, Results.