BROOMFIELD — Thompson Valley volleyball coach Nathan Fristed figured most teams would key on his two standouts, seniors Sara Hewson and Erin Marolf, as the season got underway.
Yet more and more teams are learning the Eagles are far more than a two-player show, and they made another rousing statement about this truth Tuesday at Broomfield.
The visiting Eagles recorded a surprisingly one-sided victory over the host Eagles, sweeping Broomfield 25-16, 25-20, 25-20 in a Class 4A Northern League showdown.
Thompson Valley, ranked seventh in Class 4A, fell behind briefly at the outset of all three games before pulling away from No. 4 Broomfield each time.
“Erin can be dominant at times, and Sara for the past three, now four, years has been the dominant player,” Fristed said. “So it is kind of nice to have Meghan Miller, a 6-foot-2 lefty, on the right side. When her jump serves are on, it curves around and no one really knows where it’s going. We have a lot of good balance.”
Broomfield (4-2, 3-2 league) was error-prone from the beginning of the match and never truly got on track, consistently misfiring out of bounds or mishandling Thompson Valley returns throughout the contest.
Thompson Valley has suffered only two losses, both of which occurred against top- flight teams in matches that could have gone either way. The Eagles suffered a five- game loss to No. 2 Longmont and also suffered a decisive- game defeat against Fossil Ridge, a Class 4A state finalist last year that is now competing in Class 5A.
Hewson (nine kills) and Marolf (nine kills, nine digs) helped make sure Thompson Valley (6-2, 3-1 league) didn’t come close to loss No. 3 on Tuesday. Hannah Creed led Thompson Valley with 11 kills, and Miller added seven kills.
“We didn’t really know what to expect against Broomfield,” Marolf said. “Our offense was really good and our blocks were on tonight. We have quite an offense all the way around.”
