Denver East has been the class of the Denver Prep League volleyball scene for years.
The honor hasn’t meant much to the powerhouse teams from the suburbs and Colorado Springs, though.
This year, something changed. East coach Michael Hernandez beefed up his team’s schedule, taking on some of the state’s best at the Eaglecrest Invitational while also adding unbeaten Eaglecrest and other solid programs to the regular-season slate.
Last weekend, that paid off for the Angels as they became the first DPL team to qualify for the regional round of the state tournament. East will be the fourth seed, the 14th overall, at the Class 5A Region C tournament Saturday.
“It definitely has been something we’ve talked about,” said Hernandez, a first-year head coach who has been associated with East athletics for 16 years. “This was our fifth consecutive league championship, so we have always been host for districts, but this was a big monkey off our backs. We struggled in the middle of the season but we hung on, and we were really confident this time around. But our goal was not just to get out (of districts), but to win it all.”
Eaglecrest enters the Class 5A tournament as the top overall seed and will be looking to continue its unbeaten season while hosting a tough Region A that includes Highlands Ranch, Monarch, and Mountain Vista.
Chaparral and Pine Creek are the other No. 1 5A regional seeds.
In Class 4A, Cheyenne Mountain will continue its quest for a third consecutive state title by hosting a Region A tournament that also features Pueblo County, Longmont and Broomfield.
In the smaller classifications, defending state runner-up Valley is the top overall seed in Class 3A, followed by fellow No. 1 seeds Colorado Springs Christian, Roaring Fork, and Eaton. Undefeated La Veta (22-0) is the top overall seed in Class 2A, while Norwood, Wiley, Simla, and Fleming earned the No. 1 regional seeds in Class 1A.
