4A girls volleyball: Thompson Valley wins back-to-back state titles

DENVER – The Thompson Valley Eagles are back-to-back Class 4A state champions.

With their 25-23, 25-20, 25-21 victory over Windsor, Thompson Valley completed a perfect run through the tournament. They didn’t lose a match, and they didn’t even lose a set, on their way to claiming the gold trophy for the second year in a row. 

“It feels amazing,” Thompson Valley senior Grace Robidoux said. “It’s honestly the best feeling in the world. I am so glad I’m a senior and I got to go out this way. It’s honestly the best feeling ever. It makes all the practice and all the hard work so worth it.

In each of the first two sets, the match was tight until the late stages. In the first set, neither team led by more than four points and that was when Thompson Valley went ahead 10-6. Windsor stormed back and tied it at 20-20. 

From there, the teams traded points until Thompson Valley was able to score two in a row to win 25-23 on a kill by Wiersema. 

The second set was close as well. Thompson Valley led 14-13 midway through and then began to pull away late. Leading 24-20, a block combo was the set-winner and the Eagles were a set away from the championship. 

“We always talk about how hard it is to beat a good team twice and we beat this team three times this year,” Thompson Valley head coach Lester Thorne said. “It’s really tough. Everybody makes little corrections here and there. We knew they weren’t going to stop battling. Everything was close. The whole thing was close the entire time. The girls realized that they don’t like losing as much as they like winning. They really fight to not lose.”

That was exactly what the Eagles did in the third set.

Early on, it looked like it might go Windsor’s way. The Wizards led 11-4 and 14-7 before the Eagles regrouped. They rallied to tie it at 17-17 and the teams traded points until Thompson Valley closed the match on a 4-2 run. 

When the final point hit the floor, the Eagles rushed the court and celebrated on the floor and on top of each other.

“Honestly, it feels surreal,” Thompson Valley senior Becca Wiersema said. “Last year, it was so crazy just coming to a new place and never experiencing it before. Experiencing it for the second time almost felt like it was faster. It was just crazy. It’s so cool. I’m glad that I am going out like this.”

Thompson Valley finished the season with a 27-2 record. That record includes three victories over Windsor, once in the regular season and twice at the state tournament.