CLASS 1A VOLLEYBALL REPORT – EARLY WEEK
BY: KERRY SHERMAN
The regular season is headed towards its final month, and we still have a lot of key match-ups left to play. We’re shifting from using the MHPR rankings to the CHSAA rankings powered by MaxPreps. That metric will determine the regional qualifiers and their seeding. League champions, as long as the league has at least five teams, will automatically qualify for regionals. A total of 24 teams will qualify, with the top-12 hosting.
TUESDAY
#1 SIMLA (12-1) VS #21 ELBERT (11-2)
Simla opened Black Forest play last Tuesday with a sweep of Pikes Peak Christian, the 12th sweep in a row for the Lady Cubs. They only gave up a total of 21 points in the match. Brynlee Amendt (11), Carlee Cox (9), and Haylee Easler (8) combined for 28 of the team’s 38 kills. Cox also had six aces. Trenna Kochera picked up 18 assists, and Kinlee Cox added 14. Elbert improved to 3-1 in the league with a four-set victory over Hanover last Tuesday. Lily Simmons and Paisley Vandergriff led the Lady Bulldogs with seven and six kills, respectively. Vandergriff served up six aces as well. Jadyn Schmidt added 12 assists. Simla has won all 13 meetings with Elbert in the MaxPreps era, the most recent coming in 2023. Elbert only won two sets in those 13 matches.
#2 SWINK (10-0) AT KIT CARSON (2-10)
Swink won two big showdowns last week, taking out #5 Cheraw in five on Tuesday, and sweeping #8 Hi-Plains on Saturday. The win over Hi-Plains came 25-14, 27-25, and 25-18. That victory gave the Lady Lions three wins against top-10 teams in their last three matches, and they own sole possession of the High Plains lead at 4-0. Kit Carson broke a three-match losing streak with a win over Rocky Ford last Tuesday, but the Lady Wildcats then fell to 0-3 in High Plains play with a 3-0 loss to Cheraw last Thursday. Tressie Golding led the way in that loss with seven kills and 14 digs. Avery Johnson added eight assists. This will be the first match between Swink and Kit Carson in the MaxPreps era.
#3 SARGENT (11-0) AT SANGRE DE CRISTO (5-7)
Sargent made it four straight sweep victories with wins over 2A Del Norte and Centennial, the latter in Southern Peaks play. Kandace Pargin recorded 20 kills and 18 digs against Del Norte, and followed that with 17 kills against Centennial. Aubree Ullery posted 59 total assists in the two matches, including 30 on Saturday, her fourth time with at least that many this season. Like Sargent, Sangre de Cristo is also unbeaten in league play, but the Lady Thunderbirds have only played one league match. They are on a two-match losing streak after falling to 2A Mancos last Friday. Sangre has won 19 of the last 26 with Sargent, but the Lady Farmers own wins in the last three.
#4 MCCLAVE (11-4) VS #6 GRANADA (11-3)
McClave won the title in the Akron tournament on Saturday, putting the Lady Cardinals on a four-match winning streak entering this big High Plains clash. They took out #14 Otis 2-0, 2A #3 Evangel Christian 2-1, and 2A #5 Akron 2-0. Avery Hemphill put down a total of 37 kills in the tournament, including 19 against ECA. Yesenia Almanza tallied 64 total assists. Granada was very busy over the last few days, sweeping #27 Wiley on Friday, going 1-2 in the Akron tournament on Saturday, and sweeping Weskan (KS) on Monday. In the tourney, the Lady Bobcats swept 2A Custer County, but then fell to Akron and ECA, both in three. Camryn Coleman put down 47 kills in the three matches, and Kinsley Williams added 75 assists. McClave has won 28 of the last 29 in the series, including a current 22-match winning streak.
#8 HI-PLAINS (8-3) VS #19 EADS (6-5)
The sweep loss at Swink on Saturday was the second defeat of last week for Hi-Plains, who also lost to Granada in five last Tuesday. Sandwiched between was a four-set victory over Genoa-Hugo/Karval on Friday. Cambria Seaman (14) and Brianna Rueb (10) combined for 24 kills in that win, and Addison Richards added 30 assists. Eads dropped a 3-0 contest at home last Tuesday to 2A #20 Burlington, but the Lady Eagles bounced back to sweep Manzanola on Friday. Their back row was extremely busy against Burlington, recording 142 digs. Bailey Sierra (29), Aubrey Mitchek (26), Aspen Nelson (25), Peyton Eder (22), Emma Wollert (20), and Jordynn Turcotte (19) combined for 141 of them. Mitchek cranked off 11 aces against Manzanola. Hi-Plains has won 11 of the last 15 in the series, including a 3-0 victory last year.
#11 FLAGLER (10-4) VS #15 STRATTON (7-2)
Flagler heads into this showdown between two of the three co-leaders in the Union Pacific on a four-match winning streak. The Lady Panthers rolled to three league wins last week, beating 2A Byers in five on Tuesday, sweeping 2A Limon on Thursday, and sweeping Deer Trail on Friday. Those were their first league matches. Stratton followed up a five-set win at Idalia last Tuesday with a sweep of 2A Crowley County on Friday. Rilynn Weickum led the Lady Eagles with 11 kills in the latter of those two matches, and Kinsleigh Brachtenbach added 10. Kennedy Henschel (18) and Layla Bancroft (17) combined for 35 digs, and Gracie Miltenberger 17 assists and six aces. Not counting the years when each school was part of a co-op, the series is tied at 11 wins apiece since 2007. Stratton won each of the last two years in four sets.
#12 HAXTUN (10-4) AT PEETZ (6-8)
Haxtun rolls into this non-league contest having won its last five matches. The latest came last Tuesday in a sweep of 2A Wray in LPAA action. Ashlyn Wolff and Leah Edwards had 11 kills apiece to lead the attack in that victory. Lily Firme added eight. Wolff also led the defense with 16 digs. Peetz snapped a three-match losing streak by winning two matches at the Leyton (NE) tournament to claim the title. The Lady Bulldogs beat Banner County (NE) and Minatare (NE), both in two sets. Haxtun has won five straight in the series, including a four-setter earlier this season in the NJC Spectacular. Three of the four sets went extras. Edwards led Haxtun with 15 kills, and Nataleigh Kalb had 13 for Peetz.
THURSDAY
#2 SWINK VS 2A PEYTON (5-6)
Peyton broke a three-match losing streak with a 3-0 victory over Monument Academy last Thursday. Faith Hadley had nine kills in the match, while Jaedyn McArthur finished with 14 digs and nine aces. Sarah McCormick added 27 digs. The Lady Panthers have a match against Calhan on Tuesday. Swink has won the only meetings in the series with Peyton in sweeps over the last two seasons.
#4 MCCLAVE VS 2A #32 RYE (8-7)
With 36 teams qualifying for the 2A postseason, Rye isn’t far from being on the bubble. The Lady Thunderbolts got a pair of wins in last Saturday’s La Junta Tarantula tournament. They beat 2A Thomas MacLaren 2-0, lost to 3A #34 La Junta 1-2, and beat 2A Swallows Charter 2-1. Rye has won three out of its last four matches overall. This will be the first meeting between McClave and Rye since MaxPreps began tracking volleyball in 2007.
#7 PRAIRIE (9-2) VS #8 HI-PLAINS
Prairie has won its last eight matches since starting the season 1-2. The Lady Mustangs completed the season sweep of Fleming, winning 25-9/23/18 last Friday. Hannah Kugler (14) and Macie Jaeger (13) combined for 27 kills in the contest. Prairie served 14 aces, five by Molly Walker and four apiece by Kugler and Kali Sutter. Walker led the team with 30 assists, and Sutter had a team-high 18 digs. Prairie has won three of four against Hi-Plains, including a four-set victory last year in the state tournament.
#9 CALICHE (9-5) VS WASHINGTON COUNTY (1-10)
Caliche snapped a short two-match losing streak with a four-set win over Peetz last Friday. The Lady Buffs led 2-0 before dropping the third, 20-25. They closed out the victory with a 25-18 fourth. Faye Lueck led a balanced attack with 14 kills, and Alexis Breidenbach followed with 10. Ellie Willis tallied eight, and Lily Armstrong tacked on six. Hayden Walker chipped in 22 assists and four aces. Washington County did not field a program last year and the first season back with a very inexperienced squad has been rough. The Stampede lost to Idalia in three sets last Thursday, marking their sixth straight loss. There is only one previous meeting in this series in the MaxPreps era, with Caliche beating what was then Arickaree/Woodlin in five sets in 2023.