Yuma High School’s volleyball team earned one win at the Class 2A State Tournament in the Denver Coliseum.
The Outlaws’ magical postseason ride was halted by the intervention of the Saints from Vail Christian, Friday morning.
However, the Outlaws opened their state tournament appearance with a dominating win over fifth-seed Sanford on Thursday morning.
They lost the first set 21-25, but had shaken off the “State Jitters” by the end of that set. They then dominated the Mustangs the rest of the way, getting the gentlewomen’s sweep with wins of 25-14, 25-15, 25-14. They trailed 6-11 in the fourth set, but closed out on a 19-3 run to avoid the scary randomness of a fifth set to 15.
That put the 12th-seed Outlaws into the second round against fourth-seed Holyoke later in the day. They had lost two matches to the Dragons in the regular season, but this time continued their recent strong play, pushing Holyoke to five sets.
At first it seemed like it would be the same as usual against Holyoke this season, losing the first set 13-25. However, the Outlaws rose up to win the second 25-23, then dropped the third 16-25, but dominated the fourth 25-14 to set up a deciding fifth set.
It was close throughout but Holyoke maintained just enough of an edge to avoid the upset by handing the Outlaws a 13-15 loss.
That sent Yuma into the elimination bracket for an 8 a.m. match today against 11th-seed Vail Christian, which was swept by sixth-seed Swink in the first round. The Outlaws never could sustain any kind of momentum as the Saints swept them out of the tournament 19-25, 20-25, 13-25.
Yuma finished with a 13-15 record. Friday morning concluded the high school volleyball careers of seniors Novalee Schuetz, Bryar Chrismer, Lauren Gonzales and Bailey Nighswonger.
Look for more on the Outlaws in the state tournament in next week’s edition.