Volleyball will return to State to defend their title
The Sabercats celebrate the point that earned them back the lead over Eaglecrest. Photo Credit: Haley Rockwell
November 10, 2017
Hosting regionals for the second year in a row, Fossil Ridge High School’s volleyball team took the court against Brighton High School and Eaglecrest High School on Friday, November 3 in the Region II tournament for 5A Volleyball.
4:00 P.M. set the start of Fossil’s first match against No.36 Brighton. The Sabercats swept the Bulldogs, 3 sets to none. The first set was a nail bitter as each team rallied up points, keeping the score within 5 points the entire set. Brighton put up a fight against No.2 Fossil in the opening set and it ended with a score of 25-20.
Fossil picked their game up in the second and third set, scoring point after point. The Sabercats took the second set 25-7 and stole the final set 25-12. Power house, Catie Semadeni had 10 kills and 26 attempts. Tyler Lindgren had 24 assets, Charlie Durbin had 18 digs, and Mataya Megson had 6 blocks.
The Sabercats returned to the court at 7:30 P.M. to take on No.23 Eaglecrest. The first set began and Fossil was hoping to come out stronger than they did against Brighton, which they did taking the first set 25-12.
The Raptors creeped their way closer to the Sabercats in the following sets, closing the scoring gap to 25-19 in the second set. After winning 5 sets in a row, Fossil got comfortable, allowing Eaglecrest to take the lead in the beginning of the third set. With the score at 2-5, coach Paul Shimek called a timeout for the Sabercats to recompose themselves. Following the timeout, Fossil clawed their way back to take the lead and force an intense final set. The set ended with a close score of 25-23 and named the Sabercats undefeated at regionals.
Semadeni and Riley Zuhn led the team in their 3-0 sweep against the Raptors. They each made a statement on the court, Semadeni with 12 kills and 6 aces and Zuhn with 13 kills and 23 attempts. The powerful duo will take their impressive skills to state once again and hopefully bring home the second state title in a row.
Lindgren states, “We definitely had a target on our backs to not come back to state, but we definitely defeated that.” That target on their backs motivated the Sabercats and allowed them to breeze through regionals and secure a spot to defend their state title in this year’s state tournament.
The state tournament begins on Friday, November 10 at the Denver Coliseum. The Sabercats are the No.2 seed and will face No.7 Chatfield High School and No.11 Denver East High School in pool play. Wish your fellow Fossil volleyball players as they look to capture their second state title in a row.
