The Class 2A, 2023 Colorado State Volleyball Tournament could only be described as totally unpredictable. Out of 12 regions, half of them found an underdog making it to state, and that included the Cowboys.
“Another state tournament has come and gone and I’m so happy we were able to make it,” commented head coach Greg Cravens.
The Cowboys had a rough couple weeks leading up to the regional tournament, going 1-5.
“What our girls did this season but especially the last two weeks was amazing,” said Cravens. “I’m so proud of how this season ended; a lot of people didn’t have us in the top 12 of 2A but I knew these girls had it in them.”
The Cowboys entered the tournament as the ninth seed, taking on the eighth seed Ignacio, who had finished the year 21-8. Ignacio won the game in three very close sets 23-25, 23-25, 18-25.
“Our issues this weekend were the same as we have had all year,” said Cravens. “The stat I always look at is how many points are we earning a set and at state we only averaged scoring 13 points a set; we needed the other team to make 12 errors for us to have 25 points. At the state tournament, the other teams aren’t going to make that many errors.”
The upsets continued in the first round and followed through into the second with the number one and number two teams dropping down to the consolation bracket, and Meeker found themselves facing number two Rye.
“We had a very good defense, Taylor Garcia ended the season 12th in the nation in digs,” commented Cravens.
“The girls battled and we walked out of the Denver Coliseum with our heads high knowing we had a great season and we gave it all we had. I couldn’t ask any more of them,” said Cravens.
It took Rye five sets to beat Meeker and they just barely squeaked by the Cowboys, showing the strength of the girls at the end of the season.
“We will miss the senior leadership this group provided for us,” said Cravens. “These girls will hold a special place in my heart. They had to overcome more in the season than most and they did an incredible job.”
The varsity team is graduating Ainsley Selle, Ellie Hossack, Natalie Kracht, Jayda May, Celine Lazano, Shyana Lurth, Emily Hamm and Larissa Richardson.
The future is bright for the Cowboys as they had 48 girls out this year and six underclassmen make huge contributions to the varsity team.
“The JV, C and D teams had great seasons,” said Cravens. “We have some girls coming up that I can’t wait to see what they do when they get the chance. With another summer of weightlifting and as many matches as we can find, we are excited about next year. We have a few new teams interested in our summer team camp and a few schools that just want to scrimmage this summer. It’s good to be a Cowboy!”
