The Manitou Springs Mustangs won their region and are headed back to the state tournament. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
MANITOU SPRINGS – The Manitou Springs Mustangs had themselves a Saturday.
As the host of Region 8 in the Class 3A state playoffs, the Mustangs only needed six sets to top Brush and Bayfield and advance to next week’s state volleyball tournament. They clinched the berth by beating Bayfield in the last match of the day 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-20).
The Mustangs (19-6 overall) have made two consecutive trips to the Final 4 and hope for another chance to capture that elusive state championship.
“I loved the resiliency,” Mustangs coach Jane Squires said. “Sometimes that third set can bite us in the butt, but we fought back.”
Manitou started the day with a 3-0 (25-11, 25-13, 25-16) sweep over Brush (6-19). The Beetdiggers were able to challenge the Mustangs early in each of the three sets, but the talented trio of Kaite McKiel, Brooke Garrettson and Gala Jensen proved to be too much.
The Beetdiggers turned right around to face Bayfield (13-12) and hoped that they wouldn’t come away from regionals empty handed. The Wolverines took the first two sets 25-22, 25-12 before Brush was able to come away with their only set of the day. They took the third set from Bayfield 25-17 before the Wolverines took the fourth to set up a winner-take-all match against the Mustangs.
“We were the team that had nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Bayfield coach Terene Foutz said. “We played the best volleyball we played this season and that was a statement for us.”
Before the Wolverines knew what hit them, they were down 20-8 in set one. It was the trio senior trio of McKiel, Garrettson and Jensen doing most of the heavy lifting, but Squires added a new wrinkle to the lineup in freshman McKayla Cully.
“She plays great defense,” Squires said. “She has a never give up attitude. She’s on the floor, she’s digging, she reads well. She’s added a great dimension to our right side.”
Cully helped the Mustangs take the first set 25-16 as they tried to grasp the momentum needed to carry them to state.
But the Wolverines weren’t going to give in so easily. Behind the effort of their lone senior, Brooke Kudelski, they put up a much strong fight in the second set. They led the Mustangs 20-18, but the home team was able to rattle off four straight points to regain the lead.
Bayfield couldn’t regain the edge as Jensen blocked an attempted kill to give Manitou a 24-23 lead. They closed out the next point to take a 2-0 lead, putting them a set away from state.
“We have roller coasters and that’s why we get down sometimes,” Jensen said. “The reason we were able to finish (the second set) is because we all know where we’re going from here and we’re confident in ourselves.”
The third set saw the Mustangs jump out and take a quick lead, extending it to 15-9 on a Garrettson kill. The Wolverines did their best to fight back, but they couldn’t pull even. The Mustangs came away 25-20 winners and have earned a trip back to the Denver Coliseum.
“This trip, we really had to fight for it,” McKiel said. “We have a new coach and we had to fight for a spot this year, it wasn’t something that we just knew was going to happen.”
The state volleyball tournament kicks off Friday morning at the Denver Coliseum with state championship matches scheduled for Saturday night.