The Durango High School volleyball team is this year’s 4A/5A Southwestern League champion.
The Demons closed out their league schedule Saturday by sweeping Grand Junction Central at home 25-12, 25-12 and 25-13 to lock up the title.
“It’s exciting for us to win the league and to know the hard work pays off,” said DHS head coach Kelley Rifilato. “An injury five seconds before we took the floor against Fruita Monument affected everyone. … We could have rolled over and died, but we continued to fight.”
The Demons won three straight contests since that loss at Fruita to improve to 13-3 overall and finish 7-1 in the SWL. DHS won the its first game against Fruita to split the series while sweeping everyone else in the league.
On Saturday, setter Eva Stewart kept the Warriors guessing where the ball was going, and her teammates had lots of spikes too the floor.
“Eva (Stewart) is the person who directed our offense, and she did a fantastic job,” Rifilato said.
Stewart finished with 27 assists, averaging 9.0 per set.
Leah Wolf and Sarah Somrak both had 10 kills, Emma Burns got six kills, and Hadyn Neiman added five.
“Our transition offense was fantastic tonight,” Rifilato said. “It was just balanced; we have a lot of other weapons (besides Wolf).”
In Game 1, Wolf and Somrak both had a pair of early kills to help DHS take a 7-2 lead. Brooklyn Messier, Somrak, Stewart and Naomi Rowe also held serve for multiple points as the Demons continued to pull away.
“Our serving today made it difficult for them,” Rifilato said, noting that Durango’s tough serving made it difficult for Central to get the ball to its top hitter, Logan McCabe.
Game 2 was closer, but DHS pulled away late. Serving with a 20-12 lead, Rowe served a ball Central wasn’t able to return. Somrak then got a kill, and on the next play she blocked the ball straight to the court. Rowe then served one of her three aces on the day. On game point, Stewart came up with a block to give DHS a 2-0 lead.
The Demons quickly took a 10-point lead in Game 3. Emma Burns killed the first point and blocked the second. Rowe then served a pair of aces, in between kills from Somrak and Wolf, and Durango took a 12-2 lead.
Kills from Anna Folk and Neiman helped DHS maintain its lead. Down the stretch, Wolf hammered a kill for a side out that put DHS up 23-12. Stewart then scored with a dump, sending the second hit over to catch Central off guard. On match point, Somrak came up with her 10th kill to lock up the game, and league title, for DHS.
Somrak also had four blocks in the game. Messier served one ace had made a team-high 11 digs. Wolf and Neiman both recorded 10 digs while Stewart had eight and Rowe seven.
The Demons were also scheduled to play at Delta (13-2) on Tuesday as this paper was going to press.
DHS will conclude its regular season at home next Tuesday against Bayfield (6-10, 3-4). The Demons are 6-0 on their new court at DHS this year.
Bayfield lost pair of tight games over the weekend. On Friday, BHS fell to Alamosa in five, 23-25, 25-19, 25-20, 18-25 and 10-15. On Saturday, BHS lost to Centauri in four, 23-25, 25-21, 15-25 and 22-25.
The Wolverines were also scheduled to play Pagosa Springs on Tuesday as this paper was going to press.
