Twelve prep volleyball teams head to the Denver Coliseum for the Class 5A state tournament Nov. 11-12.
They’ll come from Boulder, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Highlands Ranch, Greenwood Village, Littleton and Parker, but for the first time in at least 15 years, none of them will come from Aurora.
It will be a noticeable absence, to say the least.
At least one Aurora school — and in some cases two — have played in the 5A state championship match 13 times in the past 15 seasons (Grandview 10 times, Eaglecrest and Smoky Hill twice and Cherokee Trail once) and combined to win nine state titles (five for Grandview, two for Smoky Hill and one apiece for Eaglecrest and Cherokee Trail). Only twice since 2001 (2009 & 2010) has a 5A final not included a city representative.
But all five of the city’s qualifiers for this season’s 36-team 5A regional field — Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest, Grandview, Rangeview and Regis Jesuit — fell short in regional play Nov. 4, though all but Rangeview played their final match with a chance to make state with a victory.
“I think we were a little bit down in our area this year; there were some coaching changes — although some great coaches came in — and there were some restructuring of clubs,” Eaglecrest coach Tanya Bond said after her Raptors were swept by Chaparral Nov. 4 in 5A Region 6 play.
“I do think RPI affected some things and make some very tough regionals,” she added. “It was definitely different this year. I think it was a little down, we just have to rebuild around here.”
On the surface, the new RPI equation that the Colorado High School Activities Association has applied to playoff qualifying in all sports this season — which has drawn plenty of criticism — did make a difference.
The final RPI standings (which includes a formula based on teams’ winning percent, their opponents winning percentage and their opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage) came out the same day before the regional fields were assembled.
Most of the 12 three-team regionals were seeded strictly in order by RPI, however two Aurora teams — Grandview and Regis Jesuit, both under new leadership this season with Rob Graham and Ellen Miks, respectively — were both shuffled out of the Region 8 tournament at Rampart into Region 7 (Grandview) and Region 9 (Regis Jesuit), respectively, as changes were made so two teams from the same league don’t end up in the same regional.
So Grandview ended up at Mountain Vista — which swept the Wolves earlier in the season and did it again in regionals — with Legend moving into Rampart’s regional, and Regis Jesuit got handed a trip to the Western Slope to play at Fruita Monument. Cherry Creek was moved out of the Fruita Monument regional into Region 11 at Loveland and No. 28 Grand Junction was sent to Rampart.
While it’s not certain that Grandview or Regis Jesuit (which was eliminated in a one-match playoff to Fruita Monument in Region 9) would have emerged with a state berth, Legend did win Rampart’s regional.
Cherokee Trail (the 2015 5A state champion which lost to No. 1 Fossil Ridge), Eaglecrest (which fell to No. 6 Chaparral) and No. 32 Rangeview (which dropped both of its matches at No. 5 Denver East) all remained in the regional they should have ended up in based on straight seeding.
But that just explains how an Aurora team didn’t make it into the state tournament. The odds wouldn’t have looked good for any of the city’s regional qualifiers even if they’d been able to advance.
Aurora’s five regional teams went a combined 2-27 head-to-head against the 12 teams that made the state field (Fossil Ridge, Coronado, Highlands Ranch, Rock Canyon, Arapahoe, Legend, Fairview, Mountain Vista, Cherry Creek, Chatfield, Chaparral and Pine Creek), with the only wins coming with Eaglecrest’s sweep of Pine Creek and Grandview’s outlasting of Arapahoe in five sets that essentially decided the Centennial League championship.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
