2A Volleyball: Wiggins Claims Championship in Rematch Against Sedgwick County

DENVER – Quite the state-level rivalry has developed between the Wiggins and Sedgwick County girls volleyball teams in Class 2A.

Wiggins won its first-ever title in 2020 before the next two championship trophies went home with the Sedgwick County girls in 2021 and 2022. On Saturday night at the Denver Coliseum, the Wiggins Tigers returned to the top of the classification with a 25-22, 25-10, 20-25, 25-27, 15-9 victory over Sedgwick County in the 2A title match.

“Personally, I’m the only one left on this court that beat Sedgwick County for a state title,” said Tigers senior Tyleigh Fehseke, who was on the 2020 team that won it all. “So, it’s kind of like the homecoming – starting it out one way and finishing it out the exact same. They kicked us out of the state tournament last year and this year, it wasn’t going to happen. We just had to do our thing and shut them down.”

In the title match, top-seeded Wiggins led 2-0 through the first two sets but No. 3 Sedgwick County, which had not lost a match in either of the previous two state tournaments, made several runs at the Tigers’ lead, including forcing a fifth set with a 27-25 win in the fourth. In the decisive fifth set, the score was tied 8-8 before the Tigers pulled away with a 7-1 run to close out the match.

“We’ve been practicing with that all season,” Fehseke said. “Our motto has been, ‘Weak Things Break,’ and that’s not us. From the beginning, we’ve worked and we’ve worked and we’ve known what we’re capable of. In the end, that’s what shined through – that we’re not weak and we can handle anything, mentally.”

Wiggins’ four losses this season came at the hands of 3A teams in Sterling (twice) and 2022 champion Platte Valley – the all-time leader with 15 titles – and now four-time reigning 1A champion Merino.

“These girls deserve it,” Wiggins head coach Michelle Baker said. “They’ve lost it too many times and they’ve worked too hard too many times. They worked their butts off this year and they deserve it.”

Wiggins also beat Sedgwick County, 3-2, when the teams met during the regular season on Sept. 21. Saturday’s runner-up finish was Sedgwick County’s fourth straight appearance in the 2A championship match.

No. 11 Burlington entered the regional round seeded 30th out 36 teams and knocked off No. 7 Hoehne to reach the state tournament. On Thursday, the Cougars defeated Sedgwick County in the second round and went on to reach the semifinals before losing to Limon.

Fowler has the most all-time Class 2A titles with 10. The Grizzlies are third overall in Colorado history with 13 total titles.