2A girls volleyball: Top-seeded Wiggins takes hunt for first title to semifinals
COLORADO SPRINGS — It has been an unusual – yet special – campaign for the Wiggins girls volleyball team.
Now in the finals days of Season C, the Tigers have stormed through the regular season and regional round to claim the No. 1 overall seed in the Class 2A state tournament bracket. In Tuesday’s opening quarterfinals round of the state championships, the Tigers won 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 over No. 8 Yuma to solidify their spot in Wednesday’s semifinals.
Playing for their program’s first state championship, the top-seeded Tigers will go to sleep Wednesday night intending to wake up determined to finish the tournament in the same spot they entered it when they return to The Broadmoor World Arena on Thursday.
“The first one is nice to get by and move on,” Wiggins head coach Michelle Baker said. “We’re happy we won today and we’re just going to move on to tomorrow.”
Seeding aside, the Tigers had their work cut out for them in the quarterfinals against Yuma, a team that has spent the past half dozen seasons among the favorites to win. Yuma played in five straight five championship matches from 2014-18, winning as recently as 2018.
“I think that we definitely had some jitters out there on the court. I’m not real sure why,” Baker said. “A lot of the things we weren’t clicking early on, and I’m going to chalk that up to going for as long as we did with so many practices and not getting to play for a week and a half.”
In Thursday’s semifinals, Wiggins will face No. 4 Fowler in the 8 a.m. match.
(4) Fowler 3, (5) Vail Christian 1
The Fowler Grizzlies rolled into the state tournament on a four-match winning streak during which they did not drop a set, and they kept that momentum going into the opening round of the Class 2A state tournament. In the quarterfinals, the Grizzlies won 25-15, 23-25, 25-17, 25-13 over No. 5 Vail Christian to advance to the state semifinals.
Fowler will face No. 1 Wiggins in the semifinals on Thursday.
(3) Sedgwick County 3, (6) Dayspring Christian 0
In the final Class 2A match of a long first day, the wait proved to be worth it for Sedgwick County. The Cougars capped off the 2A quarterfinals with a sweep – 25-18, 25-22, 25-19 – of Dayspring Christian to reach the semifinals.
In Thursday’s Final Four, Sedgwick County will play reigning champion Denver Christian at 11 a.m.
(2) Denver Christian 3, (7) Holyoke 0
The reigning Class 1A state champions since the fall of 2019, Denver Christian’s volleyball team waited longer than usual to defend its title. At a new venue, The Broadmoor World Arena, the Thunder hit the ground running with a sweep of No. 7 Holyoke – 25-21, 25-21, 25-20 – on Wednesday night.
In Thursday’s semifinals, the Thunder will continue its title defense against Sedgwick County at 11 a.m.
