DENVER – Wiggins has been a postseason roadblock for the Fowler girls volleyball team, defeating the Fowler Grizzlies in each of the past three state tournaments.
 
On Friday at the Denver Coliseum, the Fowler squad was finally able to break through. And in upset fashion to boot.
 
In the Class 2A quarterfinals, No. 4 Fowler took down the 2020 state champions – 28-26, 16-25, 20-25, 15-11 – to advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
 
“We’ve lost to them three times in a row in the state tournament, so I think it got a monkey off our back a little bit,” Fowler head coach Lindsay Whalen said. “I think experience was a big factor because we have six seniors that all play, so that helps out a lot. And we’ve got some young talent too, so I think that combination really helped us a lot.”
 
For a stories program like Fowler’s that has won the second-most girls volleyball titles all-time with 13, but hasn’t won one since 2010, Whalen added her team hopes to ride Friday’s momentum into a big final day on Saturday.
 
“(Our goal was) just to play well and focus on getting better each game and everything else will take care of itself if we’re working on that,” Whalen said. “I feel like we made some good adjustments today and I think some of us didn’t play our best match today. So, I think we have a chance to do some good things once we get going.”
 
Elsewhere in the 2A quarterfinals, defending state champion No. 2 Sedgwick County swept No. 3 Meeker to secure a semifinals berth. On Saturday at 8 a.m. Meeker will face No. 8 St. Mary’s in the quarterfinals of the elimination bracket to fight for one of the two remaining semifinals spots. Also in the elimination bracket, Wiggins will face No. 5 Strasburg for the final semifinals spot.