This past week hundreds of parents, staff members, students, and fellow players all were waiting on the edge of their seats, biting their nails, cheering, and clapping as they watched our amazing volleyball Bulldogs fight their way through state. Our girls traveled their way to the Denver Coliseum from Thursday, November 9th through Saturday, November 11th, to compete for the fourth year in a row.

Their first game was a close one playing against the Niwot High School Cougars. The first set we lost, but from that moment on the heat of the competition was understood, and we locked-in the win the next three sets, and the game overall. Winning the first game at the State Competition was incredible for the Bulldogs, and gave them great stamina for the rest of their games. 

Lauren Hardin is one of two seniors on the team, and played her last game of competitive school volleyball at state. Hardin had a really good weekend, with several kills and minimal errors. During the Niwot game, Hardin had seven kills against the cougars. 

Because the Bulldogs won this game they went on to play the Palmer Ridge Bears later that evening at around 6:00 pm. This game was a harder battle for the Bulldogs, and they unfortunately lost that game in 3 sets. However, because they won their first game against Niwot, they weren’t in the losing bracket just yet.  

Our Bulldogs had one last shot,  playing a regional rival, the Montrose Redhawks. This game was high stakes, as it determines if they went further in state, or accepted defeat. The game was so incredibly close, and went all the way to five sets. “It was kind of nerve racking because we knew we could beat them because we’ve done it before, obviously they’ve gotten better over the course of the season, but so have we. It was definitely a game that we should have won but we tried our best.” Hardin says. Unfortunately, our Bulldogs lost their fifth set, losing them the game, and ending their state trip.