Volleyball: Upsets Happen in All But 1A Bracket
Photo: PaulDiSalvoPhotography.com
AURORA – The first day of the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Girls Volleyball State Championships is completed.
There were big upsets in all but one of the brackets, as each of the top-four seeds only advanced in the Class 1A bracket. In Class 2A, No. 11 seed Burlington upset two-time defending state champions, and the tournament’s No. 3 seed, Sedgwick County in five sets (26-24, 25-17, 21-25, 18-25, 15-8). In 3A, No. 7 Resurrection Christian swept No. 2 Jefferson Academy (25-8, 25-11, 25-19). In 4A, Cheyenne Mountain upset the tournament’s top seed, Lewis-Palmer, in four sets (25-23, 19-25, 25-21, 26-24), and in 5A, No. 5 Mountain Vista beat No. 4 Legend in four sets (25-22, 25-19, 22-25, 25-18), No. 6 Pine Creek swept No. 3 Rock Canyon (25-11, 25-23, 26-24) and No. 7 Fossil Ridge got past No. 2 Chaparral in four sets (25-15, 22-25, 25-18, 25-17). With the wins, each of those teams advance to the third round of the Winners bracket, while the others will look to make their way back to the semifinals through the Contenders bracket.
Friday’s play will begin at 8 a.m. with first round matches of the Contenders bracket in every classification, followed by the third-round of the winners bracket, at approximately 2 p.m. The day will wrap with the second round of the Contenders bracket.
State champions in all five classifications will be crowned on Saturday. Semifinal games are scheduled for noon and 2 p.m., with the championship matches set for 6 p.m.
No. 5 seed Mountain Vista, No. 6 seed Pine Creek and No. 7 seed Fossil Rige all earned a pair of upset victories to advance in the 5A bracket to tomorrow’s third round of the Winners bracket, along with No. 1 Valor Christian.
No. 1 Valor Christian, which dropped just its third set of the season to No. 8 Grandview, rebounded to defeat the Wolves, 3-1 (30-32, 25-20, 25-15, 25-16). Valor Christian will meet Mountain Vista in the third round, as Mountain Vista used four sets to defeat both No. 12 Cherry Creek (16-25, 25-9, 25-14, 25-18) and No. 4 Legend (25-22, 25-19, 22-25, 25-18).
Pine Creek swept both of its opponents, earning wins over No. 11 Ralston Valley (25-10, 25-12, 25-13) and No. 3 Rock Canyon (25-11, 25-23, 26-24). Pine Creek will face Fossil Ridge at 3:30 p.m. in the third round of the Winners bracket.
In the Contenders bracket, Legend will face Ralston Valley, Grandview will face No. 10 Castle View, No. 9 Pueblo West will take on Chaparral, and Rock Canyon will play Cherry Creek. The winners of the first two matches and the winners of the second two matches will then face in the second round of the Contenders bracket.
Cheyenne Mountain, the No. 9 seed, made waves in the 4A tournament, as it upset No. 8 Holy Family, 3-1 (25-27, 25-22, 25-20, 25-22), in the first round and then used four sets to take down the tournament’s No. 1 seed – Lewis-Palmer – in the second round (25-23, 19-25, 25-21, 26-24).
Cheyenne Mountain will face No. 4 Thompson Valley in the third round, as Thompson Valley swept No. 5 Lutheran, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22, to advance.
In the other half of the Winners bracket, No. 3 Palmer Ridge swept No. 6 Palisade, 25-16, 26-23, 25-18, to advance, and No. 2 Windsor defeated No. 10 seed The Classical Academy 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 25-18, 25-21), to reach the third round.
In the Contenders bracket, Lutheran will face No. 11 Niwot at 8 a.m., while Lewis-Palmer will take on No. 7 Eagle Valley at 9:30 a.m. Holy Family will play The Classical Academy at 11 a.m., followed by Palisade vs. No. 12 Montrose. The winners of the first two matches and the winners of the second two matches will then face in the second round of the Contenders bracket.
Class 3A included many of the closest matches from the first day of the state championships, as four of the eight games went five sets, and the tournament’s No. 2 seed fell in one of the final matches of the day.
No. 7 Resurrection Christian used five sets to get past No. 10 Colorado Springs Christian in the first round (16-25, 24-26, 25-16, 25-19, 15-1) before sweeping No. 2 Jefferson Academy, 25-8, 25-11, 25-19. Resurrection Christian will face No. 3 Eaton, which got past No. 11 Univeristy, 25-23, 18-25, 25-15, 25-23.
No. 1 Platte Valley and No. 4 Delta both won their lone matches of the day, and will meet up in the third round of the tournament at 2 p.m. Platte Valley defeated No. 8 Centauri, 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-19), while Delta held on against No. 12 Valley, winning 3-2 (25-27, 25-22, 25-23, 16-25, 15-9) to each punch its tickets to the next round.
In the Contenders bracket, Valley will play No. 6 Liberty Common, Centauri will face No. 10 Colorado Springs Christian, No. 9 Lamar will take on Jefferson Academy, and No. 5 Timnath will play University.
The 2A bracket featured some big second-round upsets, as No. 5 Plateau Valley, No. 10 Limon and No. 11 Burlington all secured spots in the second round of the Winners braket with No. 1 Wiggins.
Burlington, the No. 30 seed headed into the regional competition, continued its hot postseason run by narrowly defeating No. 6 Strasburg, 3-2 (25-11, 25-27, 23-25, 26-24, 15-13) in the first round before upsetting two-time state champion, and the tournament’s No. 3 seed, Sedgwick County, 3-2 (26-24, 25-17, 21-25, 18-25, 15-8), in the second round. With the two five-set victories, Burlington will next face Limon at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow in the third round of the Winners bracket. Limon defeated Swink in four sets (25-17, 25-14, 21-25, 25-11) and then upset Rye, 3-1 (25-27, 25-16, 25-20, 25-22).
In the other half of the Winners bracket, top-seeded Wiggins will take on No. 5 Plateau Valley, which came back to upset No. 4 Mancos, 3-2 (21-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-18, 15-4) in the second round. Plateau Valley opened the day by sweeping No. 12 St. Mary’s, 25-18, 25-21, 25-19.
In the Contenders Bracket, No. 4 Mancos will face No. 6 Strasburg at 8 a.m. No. 7 Swink vs. No. 8 Ignacio will follow at 9:30, before No. 9 Meeker takes on Rye at 11 a.m., and Sedgwick County faces No. 12 St. Mary’s at 12:30 p.m. The winners of the first two matches and the winners of the second two matches will then face in the second round of the Contenders bracket.
The top-four seeds of the 1A bracket advanced through today’s play setting up tomorrow’s match-ups between top-seeded Merino and No. 4 seed Simla at 2 p.m. and No. 2 Stratton vs. No. 3 McClave at 3:30 p.m.
Merino opened tournament play by sweeping Dove Creek (25-12, 25-23, 25-15), while Simla swept Otis (25-18, 25-18, 25-11) in its lone game of the day. On the other half of the bracket, McClave downed No. 11 Weldon Valley, 3-1 (25-19, 25-15, 13-25, 25-19) and Stratton swept Briggsdale, 25-22, 25-13, 25-16.
In the Contenders bracket, Otis and Idalia will get the day started at 8 a.m. tomorrow, while Dove Creek and Cheraw will take the court at 9:30 a.m., followed by Haxtun vs. Briggsdale at 11 a.m., and Weldon Valley vs. Kit Carson at 12:30 p.m. The winners of the first two matches and the winners of the second two matches will face in the second-round of the Contenders bracket.
