The Eaglecrest boys volleyball team came into the state tournament at Overland High School as the seventh overall seed, but made it all the way to the championship match.
Seedings sometimes to go out the window once the ball goes up in a state tournament and that was certainly the case over three days of play as coach Chad Bond’s inspired Raptors rose to the occasion against higher-seeded foes the entire step of the way as they nearly won a state championship.
Eaglecrest nearly took down Discovery Canyon — last season’s state champion — in a championship bracket match, then lost again to the Thunder 25-21, 16-25, 25-17, 25-18 May 13 with the title on the line.
The Raptors opened the tournament with a bang, as they drew a rematch with Aurora rival Cherokee Trail in the first round. The second-seeded Cougars had won all three of the previous meetings, but Eaglecrest came out without fear.
Senior outside hitter Ayden Shaw piled up 27 kills, sophomore Jackson Shaw added 15 and the Raptors were adept at finding the open floor in the key situations on their way to a rousing 29-27, 21-25, 25-23, 26-24 victory.
Eaglecrest overcame a 23-kill effort from Cherokee Trail star John Clinton and gained some belief that it could make a run in the tournament. That proved to be the case as the Raptors followed that opening round win up with a five-set victory over Valor Christian — which they had lost to twice during the regular season — and the 25-22, 25-22, 23-25, 20-25, 15-12 victory put them into the match between the two undefeated teams in the championship bracket.
Going against a Discovery Canyon team that had lost just once all season, Eaglecrest won the first set and also took the fourth set after going down 2-1, but the Thunder prevailed 15-11 to deal the Raptors their first loss of the double-elimination tournament (23-25, 25-14, 25-22, 20-25, 15-11).
Resilient Eaglecrest got another shot at Discovery Canyon after a 25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23, victory over fourth-seeded Legend in an elimination match as Ayden Shaw remained locked in with a team-high 18 kills.
Discovery Canyon again was up to the challenge in the rematch and finally brought an end to the Raptors’ magical run with a four-set victory.
Still, it was a definite step forward for a program that will move on without some key seniors in Shaw, libero Dennis Ancheta, outside hitter Alex Opferman and senior Andrew White, but got encouraging performances from Jackson Shaw, freshman setter Dillan Ancheta and others.
Cherokee Trail, meanwhile, came into the state tournament with high hopes given its 22 wins in the regular season and the presence of a very veteran lineup.
Coach Mike Thomsen’s team rebounded from the opening loss to Eaglecrest with a 19-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-19 win over sixth-seeded Bear Creek in its first elimination match, then moved on to play a Legend team that lost to Discovery Canyon.
The Cougars battled with the Titans for four grueling sets, but Legend prevailed 24-26, 27-25, 25-21, 27-25 to end Cherokee Trail’s season.
Overland played host to the state tournament for the second consecutive season and had to deal with an issue on the opening day. All the rain that fell the previous night and continued through the day created a leak in the roof in the East Gym, which was to have matches as well.
Instead, matches were all shifted to the West Gym and that created a logjam on the opening day.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
