HHS wins VB tourney, advances to 2A regionals

    Saturday, Oct. 27, was a day of overcoming the odds and making comebacks for the Holyoke High School volleyball team. At the Crowley County tournament in Ordway, the Dragons beat each of the four teams they played, and in turn, were tournament champions, despite lacking four of their regular varsity players.
    It was an awesome way to end the regular season, said coach Hannah Petersen, who is now preparing the team to go on to regional competition Friday, Nov. 2. If the HHS girls can continue to play aggressively and work as a team, Petersen has a lot of confidence in how they will perform there.
    Twelve regions, each featuring three teams, make up the first round of Colorado 2A volleyball post-season action. Of the 66 schools, only 36 advance to regionals. All league champions automatically earn a berth to regionals, and the remaining slots are filled based on RPI standings. Showing just how tough Holyoke’s league competition has been this year, all six of the Lower Platte teams qualified for regionals.
    HHS, ranked No. 24, will travel to Meeker for the Nov. 2 games with No. 3 Meeker and No. 34 Sargent. Meeker and Sargent will play first at 4 p.m., followed by Holyoke and Sargent, and finally Meeker and Holyoke.
    Other regional brackets featuring Lower Platte teams include:
    — No. 1 Yuma hosting No. 24 Peyton and No. 36 Crowley County.
    — No. 4 Wiggins hosting No. 21 Heritage Christian and No. 33 Rangely.
    — No. 5 Swink hosting No. 20 Sanford and No. 32 Wray.
    — No. 7 Rye hosting No. 18 Akron and No. 30 Dayspring Christian.
    — No. 8 Vail Mountain hosting No. 17 Dawson and No. 29 Sedgwick County.
    The winner from each of the 12 regions will automatically advance to the state championships the following weekend, Nov. 8-10. The state tournament will use a new double-elimination Olympic crossover bracket this year, rather than the old pool play format.

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