AURORA | The Grandview girls volleyball team claimed supremacy over the Centennial League with its performance in the regular season, but the Wolves needed a furious rally Wednesday night to become official league champions.
Coach Rob Graham’s Grandview team faced a two-set deficit to Cherry Creek — the No. 3 seed in the tournament that was fresh off a five-set upset of No. 2 Cherokee Trail — when it amped up its focus and defense and ripped off three straight set victories for a rousing 24-26, 25-27, 25-22, 25-16, 15-9 home victory.
The win gave the Wolves a perfect 10-0 mark against league competition, which included seven victories in the regular season followed by Centennial League Challenge defeats of Overland (in three sets), Mullen (in three sets) and Cherry Creek.
“That one was fun and it being for the league title and stuff like that adds pressure to the coaching staff and the players,” said Graham, whose team swept Cherry Creek to win last season’s Centennial League Challenge.
“I just felt that we got better every set, we were figuring things out and getting the matchups we wanted, so as a coaching staff we knew we could do it,” he added.
Grandview (17-2 overall) needed five sets to beat Cherry Creek on Sept. 28 and the same was true nearly a month later in an opposite way. The Wolves saw a two-set let slip away in the first meeting and then prevailed in the fifth, while this time it was the Bruins (11-8) that saw its advantage evaporate.
Seniors Emerson Deferme and Brenna Kelly (who recorded her 1,000th career dig in the match) both played pivotal roles, especially defensively, as Grandview found the formula to turn the tide.
After putting behind losses in the first set — which came in large part because of a scorebook error that cost the Wolves several points — as well as the second when Cherry Creek held off a set point to win, Grandview dug in.
The Wolves came back from down 21-18 in the third set and closed it out net violation. They ramped up the defense in the fourth set and a key sequence came with junior Savannah Adams serving.
Kelly made a big dig to take a 12-11 lead and then Adams made a diving save that kept the ball alive to Deferme, who somehow kept the ball off the ground and chipped it into an open spot on the other side of the net. A roll shot by Deferme followed by an errant Cherry Creek attack put the second set in the Wolves’ ledger as well.
Junior setter Ashley Harkness scored on a dump and followed it up with a service ace to put Grandview in front 4-1 in the deciding set, while senior Mira Griffin and Deferme had two kills apiece to help get the lead to 11-7. Back-to-back Cherry Creek blocks made it 11-9, but senior Rachel Briar had a putaway, Harkness a block and two big digs and senior Peyton Belcher sealed the win with a kill to cap a 4-0 run to close it out.
“We had a lot of seniors who are very poised and they were taking control of the huddle at key times, so that was great to see,” Graham said. “It was a fun battle.”
Both Grandview and Cherry Creek will finish up the regular season by playing in the loaded Cheyenne Mountain Tournament Friday and Saturday at the World Arena in Colorado Springs.
The remainder of the Centennial League Challenge placing matches will take place Thursday as Cherokee Trail plays host to Mullen for third place, Eaglecrest visits Arapahoe for fifth place and Smoky Hill welcomes Overland for seventh place.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
