The 2024 girls volleyball season was more challenging than usual around Aurora, as only four of the city’s 11 program finished with winning records.
Only one city team — Cherokee Trail — touched the floor at the Denver Coliseum as one of the 12 teams to qualify for the Class state tournament, but there was quality play in a lot of spots, however. Eight locals earned all-league first team honors, while 14 more were on second teams and several more were honorable mention.
The 2024 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Girls Volleyball Team — picked by the Sentinel in conjuction with balloting of city coaches — includes good representation from a variety of the area’s winning programs (Cherokee Trail, Regis Jesuit, Rangeview and Grandview).
Cherokee Trail turned the page again with coaching, as Amber Cornett moved up to the top spot after helping out with the program last season and oversaw a senior-led group that finished 18-8 and was the Centennial League runner-up.
The Cougars were affected heavily by injuries early in the season and shuffled starting lineups frequently, but remained competitive no matter who was missing and ultimately returned to the state tournament after they missed out in 2023.
Thankfully, senior Kassie Cooley didn’t miss much action in her fourth season on varsity, during which she played more than 300 sets for the Cougars.
The 6-foot-2 outside hitter/middle — who is committed to Cal State San Marcos — played at a level that earned her All-Centennial League first team accolades for a third straight season. Cooley racked up a career-high 267 kills (up 68 from last season in 11 fewer sets) during a campaign in which she had 16 double-digit matches with a high of 22 in a four-set loss to Fruita Monument.
Cooley capped her prep career with 16 kills in a four-set loss to Legend at the 5A state tournament.
Joining Cooley on the All-Aurora team is an offensive teammate in junior outside hitter Ella Notheisen, who was also an All-Centennial League first team performer and made CHSAA’s 5A All-State honorable mention list.
In her second season as a starter (and third on varsity), Notheisen piled up 260 kills (just seven fewer than Cooley) with help from 13 double-digit efforts and three matches in which she had 20 or more kills. Her season-high of 21 kills came in a five-set win over Ralston Valley in the season opener and she matched that in a sweep of Cherry Creek in Centennial League play. Notheisen added 170 digs and 25 aces for good measure.
The player who benefited from those weapons at Cherokee Trail was junior setter Avery Krause, who led the city with an average of 8.9 assists per set.
The All-Centennial League second team pick had 673 assists, which put her one off the pace among Aurora setters, and 85 of them came on the biggest day of the year when the Cougars won two four-set matches at regionals to earn a spot in the state tournament.
Rounding out Cherokee Trail’s presence on the city’s top unit was junior libero Alize Flores, who received All-Centennial League second team accolades. Flores finished atop the ranks of city players in total digs with 321 (in 89 sets played), which ranked fourth in the Centennial League with an average of 3.6 per set.
Flores stepped up her game in the last three weeks of the season as she had a 30-dig performance in four sets against Fruita Monument, then amassed a combined 32 in two regional matches to help Cherokee Trail make the state tournament. Under fire from high-powered offenses of Pine Creek and Legend, Flores made 31 digs in those matches.
For the entire month of October, Regis Jesuit — which also had a new head coach in Celeste Barker — was Aurora’s hottest program with a 13-match winning streak, which followed a 5-7 start. During that run, senior outside hitter Sophia Capra turned up her game with eight double-digit kill efforts.
The Raiders (16-9) lost both of their regional matches, but Capra did her best to help them make it through with a combined 43 kills in a five-set loss to Rocky Mountain and three-set loss to Cherry Creek. That gave her 262 kills for the season — fourth-most among local players — while she also had 200 digs and 34 service aces on her way to all-second team honors in the loaded Continental League.
Grandview experienced some significant losses to graduation from the previous year and adjusted during strong periods of play, but it wasn’t enough to continue the program’s streak of state tournament appearances. The Wolves swept Erie in its final regional match to finish the season 13-12.
Coach Rob Graham had two of the area’s top singular talents, however, in senior outside hitters Savannah Adams and Sajal Glunz.
Glunz — a University of Hawaii at Hilo commitment — finished in the top 10 in Class 5A in kills with 309, which also put her 15 in front of Adams for the lead among locals as well.
The 5-foot-11 hitter and team captain had 19 matches with 10 or more kills (plus three others with nine), topped by a 22-kill effort in a four-set win over Mullen. Glunz — who also sprinkled in 40 service aces — made the All-Centennial League first team as well as the Colorado High School Activities Association 5A All-State honorable mention distinction.
Those aforementioned accolades also applied to Adams, a three-year varsity player and team captain who had a diverse set of skills that Grandview relied on heavily. The athletic 5-10 outside hitter was the team’s second-most prolific offensive player in terms of kills with 294, which was just outside the top 10 in 5A and was more than double the 145 she had in 2023.
Adams — the team’s most efficient hitter with a percentage of .231 — had 16 double-digit kill matches, plus four others with nine, with a season-high off 22 in just three sets in a sweept of Eaglecrest Oct. 8. She was also responsible for 57 points via service aces, which put her second among area players (Rangeview’s Maddie Kilmer had 61).
Speaking of Killmer, it wasn’t coincidence that coach Desarae Powell’s Rangeview team qualified for the regional postseason for the first time since 2019 as Kilmer and fellow senior Anika Davison were pillars of a group that went 14-11.
Kilmer followed up an outstanding junior year with an even better senior year in which the All-City League first team pick and CHSAA All-Star honorable mention selection piled up 220 kills, dished out 300 assists and made 193 digs (which put her in the top eight of all three categories among local players) and also paced Aurora with the 61 service aces. She plans to sign with Valdosta State in February.
Vista PEAK Prep had the only libero in the area to earn first team all-league accolades in junior Yasir Dickey, who was a key part of coach Simon Morwood’s defense for the second straight season.
Dickey — an All-City League first team selection and CHSAA All-State honorable mention performer — averaged 3.1 digs per set to in the top five in her league and had 11 matches in which she racked up double-digit digs, plus three others in which she had nine. Dickey piled up a season-high 21 digs against Skyview plus 19 against rival Rangeview.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
