Girls Volleyball: State Tournament’s First Day Complete
AURORA – An exciting first day of the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Girls Volleyball State Championships has been completed.
Teams that did not lose Thursday have advanced to the third round of the Winners bracket, while those who have lost once remain alive in the Contenders bracket. The top four seeds in each of the five classifications received byes into the second round.
Two team won twice despite entering as the lower seed in each match: No. 12 Mead in 4A and No. 8 Cherry Creek in 5A.
Friday’s play at the Denver Coliseum 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 up with the second round of the Contenders bracket.
State champions in all five classifications will be crowned on Saturday. Semifinal matches are scheduled for Satuday at noon and 2 p.m., with the championship matches set for 6 p.m.
In 5A, No. 2 Valor Christian, No. 3 Mountain Vista, No. 5 Fossil Ridge and No. 8 Cherry Creek all advanced to the third round.
No. 8 Cherry Creek started the day by defeating No. 9 Rock Canyon 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-18), and then knocked off No. 1 Chaparral 3-1 (25-23, 19-25, 25-20, 25-22). Meanwhile No. 5 Fossil Ridge also won twice, posting a 3-0 win over No. 12 Loveland (25-20, 25-8, 25-22) before rallying to outlast No. 4 Legend in a 3-2 thriller (21-25, 25-17, 19-25, 25-19, 16-14). Fossil Ridge and Cherry Creek are set to meet Friday in a 2 p.m. match. Valor Christian beat No. 10 Pueblo West 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-21) and Mountain Vista beat No. 6 Pine Creek 3-2 (25-16, 21-25, 18-25, 25-21, 15-12) to set up a 3:30 p.m. third-round meeting Friday.
In the Contenders bracket on Friday, Legend plays No. 11 Cherokee Trail, Chapparal faces No. 7 Denver South, Rock Canyon takes on Pueblo West, and Pine Creek squares off with Loveland. The winners of the first two matches and the winners of the second two matches will then face off in the second round of the Contenders bracket.
In 4A, No. 12 seed Mead made an impressive run to the third round, with 3-0 wins over No. 5 Montrose (28-26, 25-20, 25-23) and No. 4 Battle Mountain (25-19, 25-20 25-20). That earned Mead a shot at No. 1 Thompson Valley, a 3-1 winner over Windsor (25-27, 25-21, 27-25, 25-14), in a 2 p.m. match Friday. No. 6 Cheyenne Mountain won twice, topping No. 11 Palmer Ridge 3-1 (25-22, 25-18, 20-25, 25-18) and then coming from behind to down No. 3 Palisade 3-2 (23-25, 25-13, 23-25, 25-23, 15-13).Cheyenne Mountain will play No. 2 Lewis-Palmer, which outlasted No. 10 University 3-2 (25-21, 25-14, 19-25, 21-15, 15-9), in a third-round match Friday at around 3:30 p.m.
In the Contenders bracket, Battle Mountain plays Palmer Ridge at 8 a.m., followed by No. 7 Timath against Windsor at 9:30. After that, No. 8 Lutheran plays University and Palisade faces 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.
The 3A bracket stayed true to seeding as No. 1 Eaton, No. 2 Platte Valley, No. 3 The Village and No. 4 Alamosa all moved into the third round after receiving first-round byes and winning second-round matches. Of that group, only Alamosa dropped a set, but the Mean Moose were still 3-1 winners (25-22, 25-27, 25-21, 25-18) over No. 12 Centauri. Eaton beat No. 8 Sterling (25-14, 27-25, 25-16), Platte Valley topped No. 7 Resurrection Christian (25-18, 25-19, 25-13) and The Village beat No. 6 Lamar (25-16, 25-11, 25-19).
In the Contenders bracket, No. 11 Bayfield faces Centauri at 8 a.m., and Sterling plays No. 10 Strasburg at 9:30 a.m. After that, Resurrection Christian takes on No. 9 Peak to Peak and No. 5 Gunnison plays Lamar. The winners of the first two matches and the winners of the second two matches will then play in the second round of the Contenders bracket.
In 2A, No. 5 Colorado Springs Christian and No. 6 Wiggins both won twice to reach the third round. Colorado Springs Christian beat No. 12 Sanford 3-1 (25-11, 25-23, 23-25 ,25-17) and No. 4 Swink 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-20) to move into a 2 p.m. third-round match Friday against No. 1 Simla, a 3-1 victor over No. 9 Haxtun (25-22, 25-15, 23-25, 27-25). Wiggins won 3-1 over No. 11 Hoehne (21-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-22) and 3-2 over No. 3 Lyons (22-25, 25-15, 21-25, 25-20, 15-13) and is scheduled to play No. 2 Sedgwick County, a 3-0 winner over No. 7 Rye (25-15, 25-20, 25-14), at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
In the Contenders bracket, Swink plays Hoehne at 8 a.m., followed by Haxtun against No. 10 Vail Christian at 9:30. After that, Rye plays No. 8 Del Norte and Lyons squares off with Sanford. The winners of the first two matches and the winners of the second two matches will then play in the second round of the Contenders bracket.
The top three seeds and No. 5 McClave moved into the third round in 1A.
No. 1 Merino cruised past No. 9 Sargent 3-0 (25-9, 25-11, 25-10) to advance to the third round. Merino will now face No. 5 McClave, which won twice Thursday, defeating No. 12 Weldon Valley 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-21) and No. 4 Otis 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-22). Both No. 2 Idalia and No. 3 Fleming were pushed to the limit in their victories with 3-2 decisions, with Idalia topping No. 7 Dove Creek (21-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-14, 15-13) and Fleming edging No. 6 Stratton (25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-10). Idalia and Fleming are scheduled to play Friday at 3:30 p.m.
In the Contenders bracket, Otis faces No. 11 Briggsdale at 8 a.m., while Sargent playing No. 10 Cheraw in the next match. After that, Dove Creek takes on No. 8 Hi-Plains and Stratton faces Weldon Valley. The winners of the first two matches and the winners of the second two matches will face off in the second round of the Contenders bracket.
The NFHS Network will stream all five courts over the course of all three days. Live score updates can also be found on the brackets.
Teams qualified for the state tournaments by winning a regional last weekend, with a total of 12 teams advancing to the state bracket. A list of qualifiers for each tournament can be found on this page.
