WHAT A RUN!
Submitted by ken on Tue, 11/24/2009 - 3:00pm
Volleyball team finishes in Final 4 – again!
BY GREG HASSELL
Rider Wrap-Up Staff
The Lady Riders had one goal when the 2009 season started and that was to win a state title. For the third straight year they got very close. The Lady Riders dropped the semifinal match in four games to the Cheyenne Mountain Indians, who went on to defend their title and increase their winning streak to 59 matches. Still, the Lady Riders finished the season with an impressive record of 27-3.
This is the third straight year the Riders’ season ended in the semifinal game. “Our goal is to make it past the crossroads into a state championship match,” said Coach Geneva Morford before the season started.
Roosevelt did have an amazing season before the final four. They went 25-1 in the regular season. That was the 2nd best record in class 4A, and they entered the tournament with a 24-game winning streak.
Districts and Regionals were both hosted by Roosevelt. Their winning streak continued by sweeping both tournaments. Then came the state tournament at the Denver Coliseum.
The Lady Riders went into the tournament as the number 3 seed. They started Friday off with a sweep of league rival, Fossil Ridge. Later in the day they swept Pueblo West and guaranteed a spot in the final four. Megan Velasquez, Mackenzie Krause, and Sage Martinson all had explosive days. Erin Seele bounced back after a tough first game and added a lot of fire to the team in the nightcap.
Saturday morning Roosevelt matched up against Mullen (25-3) who was also undefeated in the state tournament. The Riders dropped the first two games and it all looked to be over. It was far from over. Roosevelt won games 3 and 4 to force a fifth game. All eyes were on Court 4 watching the two powerhouses battle for the number one seed in Pool II. It was a back and forth game but the Lady Riders couldn’t hold on. They dropped the fifth game 15-11.
This placed them as the number 2 seed in their pool, so they had to play the Pool I number 1 seed in the final four. Their opponent for the semifinal match ended up being returning state champion Cheyenne Mountain. The Roosevelt girls did not seem frightened one bit. They played a hard fought game and at one point it looked like they just might advance, but they couldn’t hang on. The Lady Riders team lost to Cheyenne Mountain in four games.
Roosevelt will be losing Megan Velasquez, Sage Martinson, Sarah Bott, Rebekah Quintana, and Desiree Maldonado to graduation as they will try and bounce back next year.