DENVER — To start the volleyball season, Mountain Vista handed Cherry Creek one of its two losses on the year. To start the state tournament, the Bruins returned the favor.
Cherry Creek battled to a 21-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-20, 15-7 win over the Golden Eagles, knock off the No. 1 seed in the Class 5A bracket. It was just one of many upsets across all five classifications on Friday at the Denver Coliseum.
Mountain Vista won the regular season opener between the two teams. That match also went to five sets.
“It was motivation to come in here and beat them,” coach Sally Moos said.
The Golden Eagles claimed the first set of the match, putting the Bruins into a quick hole. It was all tied up after two, but Mountain Vista again pulled ahead, putting Creek on the verge of defeat and losing any control over its own fate.
Even at that point, there was no panic from the Centennial League’s only representative at the tournament.
“I don’t think so,” junior outside hitter Katie Sherman said. “We were all just so into (the match) and we wanted to win it so bad.”
So they battled. The fourth set remained tight until Creek pulled away at the end. They came out in the fifth and dominated from the start, jumping out to a 11-3 lead.
Mountain Vista started to rally back, but the Sherman put down one last kill to give the Bruins control of Pool I.
“We wanted to win that so bad,” Sherman said. “They’re probably our biggest rival. We’re super excited.”
Cherry Creek finished the regular season with just two losses. The first came against the Golden Eagles. The second loss was back on Sept. 16 against Rock Canyon. Cherry Creek evened the score against Rocky Mountain in the Legend Tournament on Oct. 28.
The Bruins and the Lobos will play Saturday morning and a win by Creek means advancement to the semifinals.
“Rocky Mountain is a very good team, too,” Moos said. “We’ll do the same thing, we’ll battle back and forth.”
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Other upsets shake up the pools
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Denver East continued 5A’s upset trend in the third match of day when the No. 11-seeded Angels swept No. 2 Fossil Ridge, the defending champions.
The Angels, who are now 21-6 this season, swept the Sabercats 25-23, 25-22, 25-20.
“They stuck to the gameplan,” Denver East coach Tarah Olmstead said after the match. “They ran outside their comfort zone, which is what we are supposed to do every single day. We watch film on everybody here. We know what everybody does before we even know our own rotations. And they called it, they stayed on top.”
Denver East last advanced to the state tournament two years ago, but only two players remain from that team.
“What’s really tough is we have a ton of people who have never been here before,” Olmstead said. “We only have two people who have been here. And their eyes, when they’re walking in, are all over the place. So in order to keep them present, I said, ‘Look around, Snapchat, I don’t care what you have to do, do it right now. But the second we get in there, you are present and you are with each other, because that’s what everybody came to watch.’”
The Angels will have the chance to win their pool and advance to the semifinals by beating Chatfield on Saturday.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
And with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds already the victims of upsets, No. 10 Rock Canyon was looking to make it a hat trick against No. 3 Castle View.
The Jaguars fell behind 2-0 early, though both sets they lost were close. They battled back in the third to avoid the sweep and and evened things up after the fourth set.
With momentum on their side, they went into the fifth and deciding set believing they could get the win.
The Sabercats jumped out in front and seemingly had control with a 10-6 lead. But Rock Canyon had battled back to tie up the overall match, so coming back to tie the final set seemed like child’s play.
Down 14-11, the Jaguars rode a couple of key kills from Keeley Davis to pull even. Davis made the final kill to give the Jags a 16-14 win in the deciding set of the match.
“(Early on) it was just the nerves at state,” Davis said. “We have a lot of new people who are here in this big coliseum. I think once we set those nerves off and we started getting excited and being happy about things, we started getting less nervous.”
Rock Canyon will play Coronado Saturday morning and can advance to the 5A semifinals by winning that match.
In 1A, No. 9 Holly knocked off No. 4 McClave 3-2 to start the day, including 15-3 in the fifth set.
In 2A‘s first match of the day, No. 9 Denver Christian upset No. 4 Hoehne, 3-1.
Simla threw a second wrench into the 2A tourney when the No. 11 Cubs upset No. 2 Swink with a 25-16, 25-19, 25-15 sweep.
No. 5 Otis over No. 4 McClave in 1A, 3-1.
2A No. 6 Lyons beat No. 3 Dayspring Christian 3-1.
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Notables
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Buena Vista had probably the largest, and loudest, crowd of the day. The students at Buena Vista took a field trip to the Denver Coliseum on Friday. The school picked up the tab to get as many students as possible to support the Demons at state.
Kit Carson’s incredible run of not losing a set continued on Friday. The Wildcats swept Weldon Valley and Briggsdale, and have now won all 72 sets they’ve played this season.
Lewis-Palmer, the defending champion and No. 1 seed in 4A, extended its match winning streak to 56 with sweeps of Mullen and Roosevelt. The Rangers are ranked No. 5 nationally by MaxPreps.
Eaton is in search of a fifth-straight championship in 3A. The Reds opened their tournament with a 25-18, 25-20, 25-10 sweep of Platte Valley, and then swept Lamar in the evening.
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Semifinal berths clinched
Yuma won 2A’s Pool I with wins over Dolores and Rangely.
Niwot captured 4A’s Pool IV. The Cougars beat Discovery Canyon and Palmer Ridge.
Chaparral won Pool IV in 5A with wins over Fort Collins and Fruita Monument.
Kit Carson, after its two sweeps, clinched Pool I in 1A.
University won 3A’s Pool IV following wins over Middle Park and Resurrection Christian.
Lewis-Palmer will meet Niwot in the 4A semifinals after winning Pool I.
Fleming topped Genoa-Hugo and Springfield to win Pool II in 1A.
Eaton is back in the 3A semifinals following sweeps over Platte Valley and Lamar.
La Veta got wins over Sangre de Cristo and Wiley to win 1A’s Pool III.
Lutheran beat Sterling and Bennett in winning Pool II in 2A.
Valor Christian beat Cheyenne Mountain and Pueblo West as it won 4A’s Pool II.
Holy Family topped Ponderosa and D’Evelyn in winning Pool III in 4A.
Faith Christian beat Buena Vista and Valley is it won Pool III in 3A.
AURORA — History exploded off his foot, coming at the end of a brilliant run that weaved through white shirts.
Christian Nunez, a sophomore at Centaurus, sprinted through the Niwot defense and then placed a shot in the bottom right corner of the net for a go-ahead goal in the Class 4A boys soccer semifinals on Wednesday. It was the spark that ignited a 2-0 win for the Warriors, lifting the program to its first-ever appearance in a championship game.
It is also just the second appearance in a title game in any sport for Centaurus since 1995.
“It’s unbelievable,” coach Lee Stanley said. “It’s beyond expectation. These guys have been playing with heart all season, and you talk about playoffs being all heart. They’ve done it, playing for each other.
“Our culture is being happy for each other’s successes, and they have shown it all season long. It was spectacular.”
The game was a stalemate until Nunez’s goal, which came with 14:09 to play.
“This is awesome,” Nunez said. “I mean Centaurus hasn’t been to the finals, so it feels great to be the first ones to take them.”
Both teams had their chances, including a shot from Niwot’s Jason Rodriguez after a cross that ricocheted off the left post with 30 minutes remaining.
“We talked in the field house (at halftime) about not losing the game. We wanted them to have to win it. We didn’t want to lose it,” Stanley said. “We thought a mistake on our part would be the only thing that would really lose the game for us.
“If we kept playing the way we were playing, possessing the way we were possessing the in first half, the goal was going to come eventually. They just kept fighting, and got two.”
Indeed, Raudel Manjarrez, another sophomore, put the game away with a second goal for Centaurus with 3:56 to play.
It ensured a historic appearance in Saturday’s 4A championship game. Aside from an appearance by the school’s co-op girls lacrosse team in the 2013 final, no Warriors squad has made a team final since its football team did in 1995.
“There’s been so much support from the school. Everybody’s been so excited over the last couple of days. I’ve gotten uncountable messages from teachers I don’t even know congratulating us,” Stanley said. “This is huge for the school. Huge.”
Added Nunez: “I think it means a lot. We’ve got to take the opportunity, and give it our best.”
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(1) Air Academy 2, (5) The Classical Academy 0
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
AURORA — Kristian Hooker gave his team an all-important first goal, and now Air Academy boys soccer is headed to play for a championship.
Hooker, an Air Academy senior, stepped up to for a penalty kick early in the first half and buried it to the right of The Classical Academy goalkeeper Brock Rowedder. The top-seeded Kadets, now 19-0-0 this season, went on to beat TCA 2-0 in the 4A semifinals on Wednesday.
“I was focusing on just getting it on net and putting it to the side,” Hooker said after the match of the goal, his team-leading 18th of the season. “I always try to look at the keeper to see what he looks like he’s about to do, especially his dominant-side hand. I just went to his right side and hoped it went in, and it did.”
The goal seemed to relax Air Academy a bit.
“That first goal is definitely a huge help for our team,” Hooker said. “The last couple of games, we haven’t gotten the first goal, so that just adds on to the pressure that comes with our record, and being (seeded) first in state.
“It’s a lot of pressure going, and everyone wants to knock us off, but we can definitely handle it. Getting that first goal definitely settles the nerves and helps us out a lot.”
Air Academy had good pressure throughout the first half, but the Titans’ Rowedder was equal to the task. He had a diving save on another chance from Hooker a few minutes later — this one coming on a free kick just outside the penalty area.
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
But the Kadets kept coming. Ryan Self hit the crossbar on a long shot with 14 minutes remaining in the half, and then Luke Louthan gave his team a 2-0 lead after settling a cross in close.
“We were a little standoffish (early),” Air Academy coach Espen Hosoien said. “I think they got caught up a little bit on the circumstances, being a semifinal, so I was just kind of waiting for a little bit of spark.
“I think that (first goal) helped us settle a down a little bit, I thought we played better after that,” Hosoien added. “It was nice to get a second goal, as well.”
Air Academy moves to the championship match for the first time since 2014, when the Kadets won the 4A title. It will be the program’s seventh trip to a title game.
The loss snapped a four-year streak in which The Classical Academy had made an appearance in a championship game, including the past three 4A title games.
The 4A championship is scheduled 10:30 a.m. at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday.
