Chatfield’s Sierra Bartley (8) and Julia Eiken (12) go up to block Evergreen’s Claudia Dillon on Tuesday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LITTLETON — No. 1 sounds and looks good to Chatfield’s volleyball team.
While taking over the top spot in the CHSAANow.com Class 5A volleyball poll on Tuesday, made the Chargers feel pretty good. Still, the prep season is young. The road is long and winding for Chatfield when it comes to its ultimate goal — lifting the 5A state trophy Nov. 12 at the Denver Coliseum.
“I’m really excited. We want to prove that we can be good two years in a row,” Chatfield senior Haley Fuller said of the Chargers taking over to the top ranking. “We are No. 1. We’ve worked hard for it and I don’t what to let it go.”
While Chatfield held the No. 1 ranking last season, there is still the memory of the Chargers coming into the state tournament as the top seed and failing to make it out of pool play.
“Our team has already had conversations about what rankings mean and what rankings don’t mean,” Chatfield coach Stephanie Schick said. “It makes me uncomfortable as a coach to talk about it. I guess I’m superstitious. I don’t like to jinx stuff.”
Chatfield sophomore Julia Geiger (14) tips the ball over Evergreen’s Marissa Hoerman (7) and Becca Butler. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
The new No. 1 tag didn’t affect the Chargers play Tuesday night in a non-league home game against Evergreen, ranked No. 7 in the 4A poll. Chatfield (3-0 record) celebrated the No. 1 ranking with a straight set 25-14, 25-19, 25-13 victory over 4A Jeffco’s defending league champion Evergreen (1-2).
Junior Julia Eiken got the Chargers going in the first set getting some early kills from the middle blocker position. Chatfield led 14-4 before the Cougars made a bit of a late rally before the Chargers pocketed the first set.
“Coach (Schick) has really pushed the middle so we can get the one-on-one opportunities on the outside,” Eiken said of getting some early kills looks before the Chargers went to their bevy of outside hitters. “It was awesome to see them with those kills out there.”
Evergreen gave Chatfield a test in the second set. Seniors Giselle DeGrandchamp, Becca Butler and sophomore Claudia Dillon were key for the Cougars as they took an early 8-2 advantage. However, serving runs by Chatfield seniors Nicole Langford and Fuller put the Chargers on a 15-2 run.
Schick was pleased with what Langford and sophomore Shea Fuller, Haley’s younger sister, provided Chatfield off the bench.
Chatfield junior Julia Eiken puts down a kill during the first set Tuesday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“It was nice to see them respond quickly,” Schick said of the second set. “We haven’t started a set like that yet. That was good for us.”
Chatfield closed out the match dominating the third set several different players getting involved and Langford having a trio of aces.
“For us to win state we can’t have an easy go at it. We need to have a difficult and challenging regular season,” Haley Fuller said. “We have to know how to get out of slumps.”
Evergreen attempts to bounce back when it plays in the Elizabeth Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 10. The Cougars advanced to the 4A state semifinals last year, but graduated a handful of seniors.
“It definitely shows we’ve got a lot of improvement to make,” Evergreen coach Jenica Watts said. “We are a very young team after graduating six seniors last year. That has been rough trying to rebuild from that.”
Chatfield will have a bit of revenge on its mind when it hosts Fairview at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8. The Knights helped knock the Chargers out of the 5A state tournament last season when Fairview defeated Chatfield 3-1 in pool play.
“The feelings are definitely still there. We are definitely still hurt from it,” Eiken said of losing to Fairview at the state tournament. “We are going to come out fired up and ready to go.”
Evergreen celebrates a point Tuesday night during its non-league match at Chatfield High School. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)