NHS volleyball fought hard at State

Niwot High School entered the state Class 4A Volleyball tournament seeded sixth overall, one spot behind Palmer Ridge High School, which was seeded fifth, in spite of the fact that Niwot had beaten them very early in the regular season.

But it was hard to fault the committee assigning the seeds as the higher seed won every time through the first 18 matches of the tournament, except one: 5th-seed Lewis-Palmer High School beat 4th-seed Lutheran High School in the sixth match. That proved to be a bad omen for Niwot.

The Cougars began the tournament slowly in the chaos of the Denver Coliseum, where five games, one from each class, were going on all at once. Seniors Hannah Waldron, Paige Demosthenes and Grace Demmel were joined on the court by juniors Addison Engel and Giselle Grier and sophomore setter Anne Haley, with senior libero Varshini Panuganti rotating in to start the game.

Niwot lost the first set against 11th-seed Woodland Park High School, 25-19, but quickly regrouped to win the next three sets handily to take a 3-1 victory. In the next round, Niwot battled third-seeded and eventual state runner-up Windsor High School down to the wire in a five-set loss.

Niwot started strong against the Wizards, winning the first set, 25-22, but lost the next two sets. Down 2-1, the Cougars rallied to force a fifth set by winning the fourth set, 25-20. In the fifth set, Niwot took the game down to the wire, but lost, 16-14. "Compete," Coach Tony Engel said afterwards. "We competed well in the loss. That's what we ask them to do – compete."

In the first round of the elimination bracket on Friday, the Cougars took on 12th-seed Durango High School, posting a solid 25-18, 25-17, 25-17 victory in the match.

Next up was 7th-seed Discovery Canyon Campus School, and Niwot started strong with a 25-19 win in the first set, but not before Coach Engel called a key timeout to settle his players. Although the game started with an ace serve by Haley, the Cougars had trouble returning serves and found themselves down 4-1. The teams traded points but after a kill by Waldron, Niwot gave up several points and the Cougars faced a 15-9 deficit.

Coach Engel's calming presence allowed the Cougars to regroup, and when play resumed, Discovery Canyon committed a service error to give the Cougars the ball. Enter Niwot junior Sami Sessa, who started with an ace serve. A great save by Demosthenes, a block by Engel and a kill by Grier found the Cougars up 16-15 by the time Sessa was done serving. The teams traded points until junior Angie Xu came off the bench to put Niwot ahead for good with an ace serve at 19-18. Grier finished it off, serving the last five points, with Demosthenes and Engel contributing a block or kill to every score.

The second game saw the Cougars picking up where they left off, jumping out to a 5-1 lead thanks to great defense from Panuganti, perfect sets by Haley, and kills and blocks by Waldron and Demmel. Xu came in to serve and gave the Cougars a three-point lead at 9-6 after a soft kill by Engel, leading to a Discovery Canyon timeout. After some miscommunications by Niwot led to a DC six-point run, the Cougars found themselves on the short end of a 12-9 score.

Niwot soon took the lead again at 13-12, with a spectacular dig by Panuganti, but the teams traded points down the stretch until a strong set by Sessa to Engel for the kill gave Niwot a 21-17 lead. But Discovery Canyon responded with a five-point run to then take a 22-21 lead. The Cougars kept coming back to tie the score, but didn't take another lead until a strong block by the front line of Demmel and Waldron put them up 27-26. Niwot's attempt to put the game away with a kill shot was ruled just out and Discovery Canyon scored the next two points to win 29-27.

The Cougars came roaring back with a 25-8 win in the third set, with Demosthenes serving to a 5-1 lead. Demmel and Waldron led the way with multiple blocks and kills off of sets by Haley, and Sessa and served four points, putting Niwot up 10-2. Xu served a run of five more points, and Grier and Engel put on a show with multiple kills, hard and soft, to put the Cougars up 15-4. With Grier serving, and two kills by Demosthenes, Niwot took a 21-6 lead, and quickly took home a 25-9 victory.

The Cougars finished off the match with a solid 25-17 victory in the fourth set. Demmel started it off with a kill, but early miscommunication saw the Cougars fall behind. An ace serve by Xu tied it up at 7-7, and a four-point run with Grier serving put Niwot up 13-9. A kill by Engel off a too-strong bump by Discovery Canyon gave the Cougars a 22-15 lead, and she finished off the set and the match with a kill shot, 25-17.

Coach Engel talked about the players who come off the bench, including Sessa, Xu and Jo Gravelle, usually to serve. "Sami Sessa came in and really picked us up," he said. "It gives us a chance to rest our bigger players, and they play really good defense."

That set up a rematch with Lewis-Palmer on Saturday morning with only six teams, seeds one through six, still alive in the tournament.

Niwot started slowly in the first set, in spite of solid defense by Panuganti and Grier. The Cougars took a 3-2 lead following an amazing save by Panuganti, but never led again in a 25-16 loss. Demmel and Waldron provided several strong blocks and kills from the front line, but multiple kill errors, a service error, a double hit call and several aces by Lewis-Palmer doomed the Cougars.

Game two was a different story as the Cougars jumped out to a 6-0 lead behind three ace serves by Demosthenes and strong play at the net by Waldron and Demmel, with solid sets by Haley. A kill by Engel gave the Cougars a 10-4 lead, which was okay with the large contingent of Niwot fans, including former NHS teacher and coach Teri Ward, who took a break from her CHSAA duties to watch the game. Engel continued to dominate at the net, Grier came up with a spectacular dig, and three strong serves by Gravelle put Niwot up 16-6. A kill by Demmel off of a high return by Lewis-Palmer gave Niwot a lead of 18-9, and after a mis-hit kill shot by Engel landed just out of reach of Lewis-Palmer, the Cougars led 21-12. Grier added a kill, and Gravelle entered the game again to put it away with two strong serves, 24-16.

Game three of the match was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team leading by more than two points. Engel and Grier led the scoring for the Cougars, with Demosthenes contributing a kill, an ace serve on a net ball, and a spectacular save. A kill by Demosthenes and a kill by Demmel pulled Niwot into a 23-23 tie, and Lewis-Palmer called timeout. When play resumed, a kill by Lewis-Palmer and a receiving error by Niwot gave Lewis-Palmer the win, 25-23.

Niwot came out strong in the fourth set, jumping out to a 4-0 lead, punctuated by an ace serve by Demosthenes. Engel gave the Cougars a bigger lead at 9-3, with two kills and a block. Strong sets by Haley and tips by Demmel and Xu put Niwot up 14-8. With Sessa serving the next seven points, Niwot went up 21-9 on the strength of blocks by Waldron and Grier and a kill by Demmel. With the Cougar's momentum on their side, a back-row kill by Grier finished it off at 25-17.

The fifth set started with an ace serve by Demosthenes, and Waldron contributed two early kills, but two service errors put Niwot down 4-3. A kill by Engel and a soft back-row kill by Grier gave the Cougars a 5-4 lead. Kills by Engel and Demmel led to a 7-5 lead and a timeout by Lewis-Palmer. Haley caught Lewis-Palmer off guard with a quick kill instead of a set, and Niwot was up 8-6. But a kill error and a bump too hard put Niwot down 10-8. A three-point run by Lewis-Palmer gave them a 13-9 lead, and led to a Niwot timeout. The Cougars fought back with a block by Engel, and a kill by Engel off a set by Haley to close the Lewis-Palmer lead to 13-12. But two kill shots by Lewis-Palmer following a timeout put an end to the Cougars' season.

Thompson Valley, the number two seed, won the semi-final match 3-0, eliminating Lewis-Palmer, and took the championship match over Windsor, 3-0.