More photos from the state tournament. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
DENVER — The Rampart Rams began the season with an overwhelming No. 1 ranking from the CHSAANow.com voters. After a long season that saw them lose to city rivals Lewis-Palmer and Cheyenne Mountain, the Rams found themselves in the Class 5A state volleyball tournament, looking to live up to that expectation.
Following the lead of a couple of teams, the Rams were forced to come from behind in order to advance to the semifinals and remain in the hunt for a state championship.
For the most part of the day, the higher-seeded teams reigned supreme. In the 4A bracket, Montrose fought through a tough Battle Mountain squad to win the match three sets to one. With that first win under their belt, the Indians only had to get by Valor Christian in order to cement their appearance in the 4A semis.
That proved to be a tougher task than they bargained for. The Indians dropped the first two sets 18-25 and 23-25, putting Montrose on the brink of elimination. They were able to get on the board with a 25-20 win in the third set. They continued to battle, winning the fourth set 25-19, tying the match and regaining some footing.
Montrose stormed out of the gate in the fifth set, never looking back, winning it 15-6 and securing a spot in Saturday’s semifinal round.
“I have no idea (how we came back),” Indians coach Shane Forrest said. “We had been talking about the atmosphere here for the last two weeks or so and just trying to keep them focused and that’s been our whole season; staying focused and staying in the moment.”
It was only a few matches earlier that Regis Jesuit had found itself in a 2-0 hole. Legend started the matchup playing fast and loose and took the first two sets by identical 25-23 scores. But then the beast that was Regis Jesuit awakened and began to show why they they are one of the favorites to walk away as state champions.
The Raiders rattled off the final three sets, winning by scores of 25-15, 25-20 and 15-10. Like the Indians, the Raiders didn’t let the atmosphere or moment be too big for them and they clawed their way back to put themselves in the position they were hoping for.
“It’s what we’ve done all year,” Raiders coach Laura Dunston said. “We know how to play in five-set matches. In our huddle after the second set, they knew that they had been there before, and against good teams. We just had to turn it around and make it happen.”
The most impressive comeback of the day belonged to Rampart. The Rams had dropped their first set of the tournament when they fell to Fairview 16-25. Rampart settled down to sweep the next three sets and win the match, inching them closer to the elimination round.
But a back and forth battle with Chaparral put the Rams in 2-1 hole, needing to win two straight sets to advance. The fourth set acted as a living analogy for the match as a whole as each team exchanged leads, but the Rams prevailed 26-24 setting up a fifth and final set.
The Wolverines jumped out to a quick 11-3 lead; appearing to squash any momentum the Rams had left over. Faced with a deep hole to dig out of, Rampart coach Nikki Kinzer called timeout and tried to calm her players.
“I knew they could pull it out and make the comeback, it was just a matter of them believing it and convincing them they could,” Kinzer said. “Our theme of the weekend has been no regrets. Just don’t walk away from this weekend feeling like you couldn’t have left anything else out there, but I told them that we could crumble right now and give them the set and our season is probably over. Or we could turn it on and show the depth of our team and show what we’re made of.”
From that point on, everything started falling for the Rams as they clawed back a point at a time to win the set 16-14, guaranteeing them a spot in the semifinals.
Not to be outdone, Cherry Creek took the court the following match, facing off against the overall No. 1 seed, Eaglecrest. Like Montrose and Regis Jesuit, the Bruins found themselves in a 2-0 hole and on the brink of elimination due to the Raptors’ win earlier in the day over Chatfield.
But in set three, the Bruins began their long climb back, winning 25-17 then taking the fourth set 25-21. With momentum and energy full in their hands, the Bruins were able to ride that emotion and win the fifth set 16-14, giving them the edge in Pool No. 1. A win over Chatfield on Saturday will put Cherry Creek in the semifinals.
“We’re a young team and the first game our nerves were all over,” Bruins coach Sally Moos said. “We knew what we had to do against Eaglecrest and the more we played, the more we were able to do what we needed.”
The remaining two- and three-seeds from each bracket will finish pool play Saturday morning. The semifinal round will be played in the afternoon with state championship games scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.