For the first time in a decade, the Durango Demons are volleyball champions of the 5A/4A Southwestern League.
Durango High School clinched that status with a dominant 3-0 win against Grand Junction on Saturday followed by an equally impressive thumping of Grand Junction Central on Monday.
DHS (10-2, 7-0 SWL) will host Fruita Monument at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the regular-season finale. Fruita Monument and Montrose each have two league losses, so neither can catch the Demons in the final week of the season.
The Demons last won the league title in 2011 when they went 10-0 . DHS went 9-1 in 2012 to match Fruita Monument, which won the league via tiebreaker. Since then, DHS had come in second in the league twice but never got closer than two games back from being league champion.
DHS accomplished the feat this season under first-year head coach Kelley Rifilato, who previously coached Fort Lewis College and Bayfield High School.
Here’s a closer look at Durango’s latest wins:
The Demons turned in a dominant performance with a 3-0 victory Saturday at Grand Junction. DHS won the three sets by scores of 25-9, 25-9 and 25-14 in an absolute dismantling of the Tigers (0-11, 0-5 SWL).
“The girls were excited to get to play after the two midweek losses,” Rifilato said, referencing the team’s setbacks to Class 3A foes Bayfield and Montezuma-Cortez. “We really controlled the tempo of the match offensive from beginning to end.”
Kyle Rowland led DHS on Saturday with seven kills, while Paige Ammerman and Leah Wolf had six kills each and Mason Rowland had another five.
Leah Wesley had a strong serving game with four of the team’s nine aces. She also had 13 digs, while Mason Rowland and Ammerman each had eight. Mason Rowland led the passing game with 19 assists, while Ammerman had 12.
Freshmen Sarah Somrak and Aava Dreger also got a chance to play in all three sets, and they recorded four kills each.
The Demons walked through the Central Warriors 3-0 with set wins of 25-14, 25-10 and 25-14.
Mason Rowland led DHS with 12 kills with a .400 hitting percentage. Wolf had six kills, and Kyle Rowland added five. DHS turned in seven team aces, as Ammerman finished with three and Mason Rowland had two.
Wesley led the Demons with 11 digs, while Kyle Rowland had seven. Ammerman had 18 assists, while Mason Rowland finished with 11.
Durango was slated to rematch with Bayfield on Tuesday night after a 3-1 loss to the Wolverines six days earlier. But the match was canceled because of COVID-19 issues at Bayfield High.
Now, DHS will close the regular season at home Friday with Fruita before looking toward the Class 4A state playoffs.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
