Greeley – You almost have to feel sorry for the floor when Danielle Minch spikes a volleyball.
The Sterling standout bound for Colorado State paced the Black team with 19 kills in a thrilling 25-21, 25-20, 20-25, 19-25, 15-12 victory Saturday in the championship game of the Colorado Coaches All-State Games at Butler Hancock Gymnasium.
“It was just a lot of fun playing with the people I normally play against and just playing with new players,” said Minch, whose club team has been on a one-month hiatus before gearing up for national tournaments.
Minch, whose competitive juices never seem to stop flowing (exhibition game or not), made her mark on the match at end of the second game. Powering the sets of Plateau Valley’s Katie Hockett, Minch closed out the Red team with three powerful kills.
“She’s amazing, just an all-around great motivator for this team,” said Black team coach Jan Phelps of Erie. “She gets up on top of the ball and puts it down, and she can place it in the air while she’s deciding, and she’s very good at reading the block. I’m excited to see what she does in college.”
Not to be outdone, the Red, coached by Valley’s Rene Aafedt and Michelle Chacon, used a variety of attackers to extend the match. Two kills from Valley’s Devin Eckhardt and a big block by Windsor’s Brittany Benningsdorf helped the Red close out the third game on a 7-3 run.
Momentum extended into the fourth and Highlands Ranch’s Samantha Bristol recorded one of her team-high seven kills on the final point of the game to extend the match.
“It’s all about just trying to have fun, but the competitive juices start to flow after a while,” said Bristol, who will play next season at Pennsylvania’s Juniata College, the reigning NCAA Division III champion. “This team worked well together and we clicked right away, and I think that carried us in the end.”
The Black team, which had been extended to five games in each of its two previous matches, ran a precision offense down the stretch, recording nine kills in the 15 points. Besides Minch, Wray’s Leah Kettleson, Peetz’s Kristin Gardiner and Cheraw’s Samantha Rohde got into the mix.
“We had to make it interesting. We just wanted a lot of court time I guess,” Phelps said. “It was a lot of fun. I had a great team and what a wonderful experience.”
Staff writer Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
