AURORA | City volleyball teams wrapped up a pair of league championships on Thursday night as the regular season nears conclusion.
Grandview won the Centennial League and Regis Jesuit locked up the Continental League crown with straight set victories, while also securing automatic berths in the upcoming regional round of the postseason.
The Wolves, ranked No. 1 in Class 5A for several weeks in the CHSAANow.com coaches/media poll, rolled to a brisk 25-9, 25-10, 25-9 victory at Smoky Hill to finish the Centennial League season 7-0.
Coach Patty Childress’ Grandview team won back-to-back five-set matches against Arapahoe and Cherry Creek to put itself in position to win the outright league title with a victory over the Buffaloes.
In the championship-clinching victory, senior Megan Lehrer led the Wolves with nine kills, while senior Morgan Montgomery added eight for Grandview, which also got eight blocks from junior Katie Patrick and 20 digs from senior Sydney Ederhoff. The setter duo of seniors Kylie Copple and Alyssa Svalberg combined for 19 assists.
Grandview concludes the regular season with a non-league road match at Lakewood on Oct. 23, then heads to the Legend Tournament on Oct. 25. Also at the Legend Tournament will be coach Laura Dunston’s Regis Jesuit team — currently ranked No. 5 in 5A — which swept past visiting Rock Canyon 26-24, 25-20, 25-15 to complete an 11-0 run through the Continental League.
Senior Claire Strohm racked up nine kills (plus six service aces) and senior Natalya King added eight for the Raiders (16-2), who got 21 digs from Katie Carlson and 24 assists Mikaela Myers.
Before the Legend Tournament, Regis Jesuit has a non-league home match against Eaglecrest scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 22.
Rangeview could have made it three league titles on the same night for Aurora, but the Raiders lost to visiting Prairie View — their first defeat in 12 matches — to fall into a three-way tie with Prairie View and Brighton for first place.
All three have beaten each other — Rangeview beat Brighton, Brighton beat Prairie View and Prairie View beat Rangeview — and each have one match remaining.
League tiebreakers would decide the champion, which is the only team guaranteed a berth in the 32-team regional postseason round.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel newspaper. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel.
