If the 4A state volleyball tournament could’ve started any worse for Cheyenne Mountain, it’s hard to tell how.
The top-seeded Indians were upset in their first match of pool play at the Denver Coliseum. Couple that with the team’s loss in last year’s state final to Mountain View and the vibe wasn’t a good one.
But David Barkley’s squad found the resolve that carried it throughout the regular season and postseason when it needed it most. And no matter what Mullen threw at the Indians in the championship match Saturday night, it wasn’t going to be enough. Cheyenne Mountain wasn’t going to be denied this time.
Laura Brodie led an offensive onslaught with 15 kills as the Indians won their first state championship with a 25-16, 25-19, 25-16 victory. The senior captain said that the earlier loss to Montrose on Friday may have worked to the Indians advantage.
“It was a wake-up call for us. They were a great team; they played hard,” said Brodie, whose Indians had just one loss entering the tournament and that was to 5A Columbine. But the loss to Montrose served its purpose. “It pushed us even harder to want to win.”
So instead of getting down, Barkley’s squad used the loss as a learning experience.
“We were fully made aware that we had to raise the level of our game if we were going to do what we set out to do,” Barkley said.
The Indians beat Mullen earlier Saturday in pool play in three games, and a rematch 11 hours later wasn’t going to be any different. Even though Mullen jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the opening game, Cheyenne Mountain went on a 12-3 run to finish off the game. Freshman Janae Vander Ploeg had four kills for the Indians.
The second game started eerily similar to the first and ended that way too. Mullen won five of the first six points, but the Indians grabbed the lead at 10-9 and never trailed again. Not even in the third game.
“We’ve done that a lot this year. For some reason we get off to a slow start. I don’t know what it is,” Barkley said. “But we’re used to getting out of the hole. It’s obviously tougher against a great team like Mullen, but they know not to panic.”
Cheyenne Mountain got up 24-14 in the final game, and it took for what seemed like forever, three points, before the Indians could finish the match off.
“We’ve just got to put it away, end the match and give it everything you’ve got,” said Brodie, who was named the tournament MVP.
And, finally, Cheyenne Mountain did so on a kill by Holly Hutchinson.
The Mustangs, who reached the finals after a five-game thriller in the semifinals over Roosevelt, had their chances, but they couldn’t finish what they started.
Class 4a
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Laura Brodie, Cheyenne Mtn., Sr.
Allie Freiwald, Mullen, Jr.
Kelsey Freeman, Mullen, Jr.
Kendall Gaffney, Cheyenne Mtn., Jr.
Megan Velasquez, Roosevelt, Jr.
Brittany Walker, Lewis Palmer, Sr.
MVP: Laura Brodie
