Niwot High School boys volleyball ends the year with a 19-4 record

The Niwot High School boys volleyball team's regular season wrapped up this past Thursday, April 25, with the Cougars splitting their final two games. Niwot jumped to 19-4 on the year after the week, placing them as the 10th-ranked team in all of Colorado.

Niwot is waiting to hear if they have a spot in the playoffs this season.

Niwot's two games came against Thornton High School and Arvada West High School on Tuesday, April 23, and Thursday, April 25, respectively. Niwot lost their first match of the week against Thornton 3-0, which was their first time being shut out this year. The Cougars bounced back on Thursday, taking a 3-0 win against Arvada West to cap off the year.

Niwot's struggles against Thornton were reflected in the score, showing a much closer game than the shutout would suggest. Niwot lost in overtime for the first two sets, dropping them 27-25 and 28-26. The Cougars almost pushed out of regulation again in their third set but lost 25-23 to close the match.

Cooper Chudleigh led the way in kills, notching 11 kills, followed by Diego Kheng and Jenu Ngialah with eight. Murray Avila trailed them with seven, followed by Shen Lam's six and Sage Xiong's two.

Niwot had a dominant night serving the ball, notching seven aces. Chudleigh led the way with two, while Charlie Kirtland, Xiong, Ngialah, Avila, and Lam all had one each. The Cougars also had a strong showing defensively, with Kheng having one solo block while Chudleigh and Avila had three block assists, and Kheng and Xiong had one each.

Niwot had a better matchup against Arvada West, taking the first set 25-16, Niwot eased through the match with only a small hiccup in a 25-23 second set before taking the third set 25-14, to take the match 3-0.

Kheng led the squad in kills, notching eight in just two sets, followed by Lam's seven, Ngialah's six, Avila's six, Chudleigh's three, Rowan Keller's three, Xiong's two, and Owen Powers' two. Of Niwot's points, six were scored off aces, as Xiong's three aces led the team, with Ngiahlah's two and Chudleigh's one rounding out the six. Chudleigh led the way defensively, grabbing two solo blocks.

Playoff spots will be announced on May 1.