The Durango High School volleyball team will get a couple more home matches after the Demons held on to the No. 12 spot in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s 4A RPI rankings to earn host team honors for the Region 12 tournament on Saturday.
“(We’re) super excited,” DHS head coach Collen Vogt said in a text message. “We’ve been focusing on the process and playing our best volleyball all year long and hosting a region is a culmination of all the work, focus and energy that this team has put in. They’re very excited to have Front Range teams visit Durango.”
Durango (16-7) will host No. 13 Pueblo County (19-4) and No. 25 Ponderosa (9-14) Saturday at DHS. None of the three teams met during the regular season.
The Demons will play Ponderosa in the first game at 10 a.m. Saturday, then will get a short break while Ponderosa and Pueblo County play before taking on Pueblo County at 1 p.m.
“Our message is going to be everybody is 0-0 at this point so we need to focus on us and playing our best volleyball,” Vogt said. “The rest will take care of itself.”
In 3A, Bayfield (13-10) was given the No. 23 seed and will play No. 2 Lutheran (20-3) and No. 35 Florence (15-8) in the Region 2 tournament hosted by Lutheran on Saturday in Parker. None of the three teams met during the regular season.
BHS head coach Danica Frost said the Wolverines aren’t thrilled about having to make a long road trip to Parker, but they’re excited about the regional and their chance to advance to the state tournament.
“We are looking to surprise some people at regionals,” Frost said in a text message. “At this point we have nothing to lose and we know we need to claw our way back through the rankings.”
Bayfield will play Florence at 4:15 p.m. Saturday, then play Lutheran at 5:30.
In 2A, Ignacio High School did not make the 24-team playoff field. The Bobcats ended the season 9-14 and finished No. 35 in the RPI rankings.
kschneider@durangoherald.com
