Palisade Volleyball did it again, qualifying for the State Competition in Denver, Colorado. The Bulldogs played on Thursday, November 14th and Friday, November 15th at the Denver Coliseum. This was a very impactful and emotional year for the program as we will be down seven Seniors going into next season.
Palisade Volleyball played one of their best games on Thursday at 5:00 P.M. against the Cheyenne Mountain Red-Tailed Hawks. The Hawks are a team from Colorado Springs, giving our girls an extremely competitive and even opponent. Our Bulldogs came into this set with strong determination to give the game their all. The first set started off strong for the Bulldogs with a final score of 25-23, allowing them to enter the game with momentum. The second set was a little rockier ending in a 13-25 loss for the Bulldogs. This sparked a fire in our Bulldogs, with the third set ending 25-23 again. The fourth and fifth sets our girls fought as hard as they could, but unfortunately took a loss down by two points in the final two sets.
The girls went on to play one of our league rivals, another flock of RedHawks, Montrose High School. This was the Bulldogs third time competing against Montrose this season, with a 3-0 win on our home court and a 3-1 win in the nest of the Hawks. Going into this game our girls had confidence that they could take home a State-level victory. Unfortunately the RedHawks too came with their all, and took a 3-0 win against our Bulldogs.
“The game on Friday against Montrose was very stressful because of the pressure emotionally and physically to succeed. I think the thought of it being our last game got to us a lot and balls just weren’t going our way.” McAnany explains. “Even through the challenge, we did not give up and we did not turn on each other. It was a very tough loss to end our season and we were all very emotional because it was the last game that we will ever play with this group of girls.”
Our seven Seniors, McAnany, Sarah Foster, Kyra Birch, Sabrina Landman, Addie Ritterbush, Braeleigh Macaskill, and Delaney Brinkley have been incredibly strong leaders and players throughout their High School careers. They have been an excellent group of mentors for the younger players showing them what true leadership, grit, determination, and excellence looks like.
Though we had a tough loss at the end of this season, our Seniors are sure that the younger players they’re leaving behind will be able to bounce back for next year. “Palisade will definitely have a younger team next year, but there’s absolutely no doubt that they have a lot of talent. I am very excited to see how they grow.” McAnany states.
Great job this season Bulldogs, and congratulations to the graduating class of 2025, we have no doubt that you will go on to do amazing things. Go Bulldogs!
