SCHS Sports
The End of the Road
by Mera Heckrodt
With eyes on the prize, the Silver Creek Volleyball team proudly marched toward
the Denver Coliseum, where the volleyball State Championship was being held. After
hosting their regional tournament and easily defeating their competition, the team was
confident about their performance at State. Last year, the team was ranked 12th out of
12 teams, but this year after their dominating season they entered the tournament
ranked 10th. With this obvious improvement, Silver Creek entered the tournament
excited about all the possibilities that awaited them.
Before the first game on Friday the 11th, Silver Creek formulated the goal to make
it to the finals of the State Championship. The team never expected to win the whole
tournament. Senior Mckenna Webster said they “were expecting to just leave everything
out on the court, win or lose.” This determination was necessary because their first game
was against top-ranked Cheyenne Mountain. As a team, they played their hearts out, but
in the end they still lost. This devastating
emotional rollercoaster was replayed on
Saturday too. Silver Creek had dominated the
regular season, so their losses at the State
Championship were unexpected. When asked
about the team’s performance, Amy Zens
said, “When we got there, the nerves seemed
to hit and just the atmosphere of the
tournament got the best of us, so we didn’t do
quite as well as we had hoped.” Although they
didn’t have the ending they hoped for, the
team left the Denver Coliseum in high spirits.
Even though the State Championship didn’t meet their expectations, the team
resoundingly agreed that their season was far from a disappointment. Between breaking
school records left and right and making it to the selective State Championship, the
Silver Creek Raptors are beyond proud of their season. Senior Taylor Merriman
summed up the team’s feelings by saying, “I am super happy with the season as a whole.
We really improved from last year, had an amazing record, and became one of the best
teams in Colorado.” In addition to their physical accomplishments, the team was proud
of how they bonded as a team and were able to rely on each other, on and off the court.
To the Silver Creek volleyball team, this is the definition of a successful season.