DENVER – Not unexpectedly humbled by the 2023 CHSAA Class 2A State Volleyball Championships’ No. 1 seed the previous evening, a refreshed, refocused Ignacio went back to work midmorning Friday and put its incredible season on the line against Swink.
No. 7 Lady Lions’ luck ran out as IHS, properly awakened by a 25-19 loss in set one, avoided disaster in set two, commandeered set three, then cruised through set four to prevail 19-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-12 and earn a fourth championships match inside the Denver Coliseum.
“Every single day is, like, a battle of something,” said a grinning Jennifer Seibel, the Volleycats’ first-year head coach. “And them just being so disciplined, believing in each other and putting the team first … my thing is getting every single ounce out of them! I just love these girls; I love their hearts, I love their fight.”
SHS made Ignacio earn the victory. Catching the ’Cats off-guard and perhaps not fully awake, the Lady Lions raced out to a 7-2 lead. Ignacio (21-7 overall), however, responded with a 9-2 run before Swink (19-8) fought back to tie at 13-all. Cosio then sent an attack long, and IHS would get no closer than 18-16 before junior Ollyvia Howe zipped a serve at game point over SHS freshman Emma Gacnik, who wisely retracted her hands just before the ball grazed her fingertips.
Back and forth the teams went in set two, until a 4-0 Ignacio burst put the ’Cats up 9-6 and pressed SHS skipper Rebecca Miner into using a timeout. IHS, however, expanded the lead to 12-8 before the stoppage began paying off. Swink would briefly hold the upper hand at 13-12, but Ignacio regained it at 15-14. The Lady Lions somehow drew level at 23-23 via sophomore Taylor Mendenhall’s cut-shot kill off senior Kacey Brown’s block.
Gacnik then netted an attack, putting Ignacio at game point, but after an extensive exchange, SHS retied the score at 24-all via a strong spike by Mendenhall. But after Gacnik was awarded a kill on a shot which barely nicked the end line, Seibel used a timeout to try icing Mendenhall before her serve, and Cosio responded by smashing down a set from freshman Kelly Sirios.
Cosio then put the ’Cats up 26-25 by blocking down a Swink pass, and Sirios evened the match at a game apiece by placing a serve which Lady Lion freshman Larriana Taggart couldn’t cleanly receive.
Having won eight consecutive matches before facing Limon, SHS appeared to have regrouped going into set three, with freshman Daisy Heberlie first smacking a back-row kill, then scoring again by blocking Cosio. Swink managed to keep the pressure on and gradually went ahead 11-9. But Mendenhall then hit a ball out of bounds, and Sirios followed with consecutive aces – giving the ’Cats a lead they’d not again lose until after Mendenhall sailed a shot long on game point.
Thanks to a Mendenhall kill off a Howe dig attempt, SHS went up 2-1 in set four, but lost the lead at 3-2 and came no closer the rest of the way than 5-4 via a cross-court kill by Gacnik. Miner took a timeout with the Lady Lions trailing 12-7, but after Heberlie came out of the pause to crack a kill, Barnes scored with a roll shot into an open corner – getting Brown on serve.
Barnes increased the lead to 16-8 with a kill, and Cosio kept things rolling with a solid cross-court kill to the opposite deep corner. Mendenhall then netted an attack, putting IHS up by 10 points and effectively enabling the ’Cats to coast.
Howe swelled Ignacio’s lead to 21-12 with a kill off Swink’s block, then turned away a Swink attack for another point. Cosio then forced an ace through the top of the net, Heberlie overpowered a cross-court try out of play, and then, after Cosio served Gacnik, finally conceded defeat by hitting a line shot wide.
Ignacio survived to face 6-seed Strasburg (20-7) later that night, but results were unavailable by press time.
“It’s like, ‘Why not us?’” Seibel said. “At this point anything can go, any team can be beaten on any given day …. We’re feeling pumped, but we’ve got to have that ‘killer’ mindset.”
