Ralston Valley girls volleyball sweeps Golden to wrap up league play

ARVADA — Ralston Valley’s girls volleyball team has checked off several boxes this season.

However, there is still one regular-season goal that the Mustangs weren’t able to accomplish. Ralston Valley wasn’t able to end Valor Christian’s domination of the 5A Jeffco League. The Eagles captured their fifth straight conference title going undefeated in league play for the fifth consecutive year.

“That Valor box is left unchecked, right now,” Ralston Valley coach Kayleigh Geissler said. 

Valor (16-2, 8-0 in league) has a 39-game winning streak in Jeffco League play dating back to 2020. The Eagles have simply been on a different level than most of the state, including being the 3-time defending 5A state champion heading into the postseason that begins with regional tournaments Nov. 7 and 8.

“I think we learned a lot from that game,” Ralston Valley senior Rylee Sonnefeld said of the 3-1 loss to Valor on Oct. 21. “I think we can come back from the loss. I know we will.”

Ralston Valley (16-3, 7-1) actually was the last team to eliminate Valor from the state tournament. The Mustangs defeated the Eagles in a 5-set triller in an elimination match during the 2021 5A state tournament nearly four years ago.

The Mustangs would like another chance against the 5A juggernaut, but first Ralston Valley turned its attention to Senior Night on Tuesday in its 5A Jeffco League finale at home against Golden. 

“It was really big for us,” Sonnefeld said of getting the 3-0 victory over Golden to finish out conference play. “It is great to end on a positive note.”

Ralston Valley cruised to 25-11, 25-11 and 25-16 straight set victory over Golden (13-10, 3-5). The Mustangs got out to a 6-0 lead in the first set. The Demons did put up a good fight early in the second set.

However, the Mustangs went on a 13-0 run in the middle of the match with senior Taylor Harteker serving 12 straight points in favor of Ralston Valley. Junior Kenzie Brown had an impressive set at the net and Sonnenfeld finished off the set with a spike.

Ralston Valley had no problem in the third set as Geissler was able to get all eight of her seniors on the court.

“A lot of our seniors have been on varsity for a couple of years,” Geissler said. “It has been their time to shine. They have had big goals even from the start of the summer. It is fun to sit back and watch them go get them. They are a real special group.”

CHSAA is scheduled to release the seeding for the regional tournament Monday, Nov. 3. Before games Tuesday night, Valor was the No. 2 seed in CHSAA’s Selection & Seeding Index. Ralston Valley was No. 7. Dakota Ridge (No. 13), Columbine (No. 17) and Arvada West (No. 20) were also in the top-20.

“Right now it looks like we might be the highest ranked Ralston Valley team in history to host a regional,” Geissler said. “We want to try to boost ourselves this weekend to get a higher seed than we are right now.”

During the delayed Fall 2020 season that was actually played in the Spring of 2021, the Mustangs advance to the 5A state semifinals to finish with a 17-1 record. Just a few months later, Ralston Valley had a 26-4 record during the Fall 2021 season and finished as one of the final six teams in the 5A state tournament.

Before focusing on the postseason this year, Ralston Valley will head to Colorado Springs for the Cheyenne Mountain Invitational at the World Arena on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The Mustangs open the tournament against Mullen at 8 a.m. Friday morning. 

“We looking forward to this weekend,” Geissler said of the Cheyenne Mountain Tournament in Colorado Springs. “I’m excited for some good competition this weekend going into the postseason.”

The top-12 seeds will host a regional tournament next week. The winner of each tournament will advance to the double-elimination 12-team state tournament to be played Nov. 13-15 at the Denver Coliseum. 

Golden was in the No. 31 spot in the seeding index. The Demons should stay inside the top-36 teams in 5A to advance to regionals next week.