The Durango High School volleyball team finished its regular season by playing some fierce competition, including 5A No. 4 Mountain Vista and 5A No. 5 Valor Christian.
Even though DHS came up short in the two contests, they helped the Demons prepare for the postseason. Saturday, No. 28 Durango upset No. 9 The Classical Academy in its first game of the 4A Region 9 championships in Colorado Springs.
“Playing Mountain Vista and Valor Christian was huge for those kids,” said DHS head coach Kelley Rifilato. “We played at a different level versus TCA; we played our best volleyball of the season.”
The Demons upset TCA in four games, 25-15, 16-25, 25-17 and 25-22 to give the Titans their third loss of the season.
“In that first match, we played phenomenal,” Rifilato said, adding that juniors Mason Rowland and Leah Wolf had some “phenomenal” games and the team’s middle hitters “did great.”
Rowland had 14 kills in the game, Wolf had seven, and Riley Engle had seven.
Sophomore Aava Dreger served four aces in 17 attempts while Rowland had one ace in 22 service attempts. Wolf had two aces in 11 attempts, freshman Eva Stewart served one ace in 14 attempts, and sophomore Brooklyn Messier held serve for 16 attempts. Engle, Wolf and sophomore Sarah Somrak, meanwhile, accounted for Durango’s seven blocks in the game.
Wolf also had 14 digs in the game, and Rowland had 13. Messier dug 12 balls, and Stewart dug eight.
“I was so proud to battle and beat TCA,” Rifilato said.
The Demons then played No. 16 Berthoud and encountered a different style of play.
“Berthoud tipped and rolled us the whole game,” Rifilato said. “It wasn’t high-level volleyball, just their shots sent us into chaos.”
The Spartans ended up beating Durango in four games, 25-19, 21-25, 26-24 and 25-12 to deny the Demons from winning the regional outright.
Wolf again helped Durango, digging 17 balls and serving 21 times. The coach said Wolf’s “all-around play” stood out.
Wolf also had 11 kills and three aces against Berthoud. Rowland had 11 kills and 17 digs. Messier had 21 digs. Stewart had 23 assists. Engle and Drager each had seven kills while Somrak added six more. Juniors Naomi Rowe and Josie Balestri also contributed multiple digs for DHS.
“We were definitely balanced attacking, we just made a couple errors and that was the difference,” Rifilato said.
After losing to Berthoud, however, TCA beat Berthoud in 3-2 to force a three-way tie in the region and give Durango one more shot to qualify for the state tournament.
In the tiebreaker, Durango squared off with TCA a second time. This time around, however, the Titans were able to win a close set against the Demons, 25-22.
Berthoud then beat TCA to qualify for the state tournament. In the final bracket, Berthoud was the No. 11 seed and will play No. 6 Niwot in the first round.
Durango concludes its season with a 10-15 overall record, including a 4-4 mark in the 5A/4A Southwestern League. The team didn’t have any seniors on its roster, so all its players could return next year.
“We’re still so young, but the girls matured so much,” Rifilato said. “I’m happy to have a great season. The kids all worked hard.“
