1A girls volleyball: Fleming upsets No. 1 Merino in quarterfinals

DENVER – In a rivalry that has dominated the landscape of Class 1A girls volleyball in Colorado, the Fleming Wildcats have waited a long time to say they were the victors.

The wait is over.

On Friday in the quarterfinals of the Colorado girls volleyball state championships, No. 4 Fleming won 25-20, 25-21, 15-25, 17-25, 15-10 over top-seeded and two-time defending state champion Merino. It had been three straight head-to-head matchups since the Fleming girls last beat Merino and more importantly, Merino has defeated the Wildcats in the past two 1A state championship matches.

“Merino’s definitely been our biggest challenge and it’s been a while since we beat them,” Kirkwood said. “I guess we were all mentally ready to change that, and flip that. Our community is behind us and my teammates were so ready. And we had talked for a while like, ‘At the state tournament, we’re going to face them if we win the first round.’ We were just ready.”

Kirkwood and Wildcats pulled ahead early for a two-game lead but the defending champions, true to character, clawed their way back to win the next two. In the fifth and final game, Kirkwood said the Wildcats refused to let the opportunity slip.

“We came together as a family in that fifth set,” Kirkwood said. “My sophomore year, we had that happen where we were up 2-0 and we lost. We weren’t going to let that happen again.”

In rivalry series between Fleming and Merino, Fleming is back on top.

At least for now.

It’s still possible that Fleming and Merino, who have combined to win the last three 1A state titles, face one another in the title match. At 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Merino will face No. 11 Briggsdale in the quarterfinals of the elimination bracket for a spot in the semifinal opposite the one Fleming is in.

“For the girls, against that one team, it means something different to them,” Fleming head coach Megan Chintala said. “I think the light bulb turns on and they just play different. That one opponent is what does it for us. They become a family, they work hard and they never give up. When we know that we have to play them, it’s a different kind of team that shows up. It was time for us to turn the page and that feels good for us and the program moving forward.”

Also in Friday’s championship quarterfinals, No. 3 McClave won 25-21, 19-25, 22-25, 25-14, 15-13 over No. 7 Simla. In the elimination quarterfinals on Saturday, Simla will face No. 6 Wiley for a shot at the semifinals.