Creek, Grandview win volleyball tournaments

By Alan Pearce, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 13, 2008 at 10:40 p.m.

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GREENWOOD VILLAGE – Saturday marked the biggest day of volleyball’s regular season, with two key tournaments taking place in the southeast metropolitan area.

Cherry Creek, top-ranked in Class 5A, continued its undefeated string by beating Doherty 25-18, 25-21 in the championship of its own Bruin Classic tournament.

Cherry Creek (9-0) needed to pass a stiff test against Columbine in the semifinals just to get to face Doherty. The Bruins lost their first set of the season but pulled out a 25-16, 22-25, 15-9 win against the Rebels, who beat Rocky Mountain to finish in third place.

Several miles away, in Centennial, defending 5A champion Grandview was squeezed a bit more but took care of four-time Class 3A champion Colorado Springs Christian 25-22, 24-26, 16-14 in the final of Eaglecrest’s Raptor Invitational.

Grandview, ranked second in the state, is in lock-step with Creek with a 9-0 record. The two teams will meet in a Centennial League battle Oct. 3 in Creek’s Lyle Gymnasium.

In the Bruin Classic championship match, Cherry Creek was able to run quite a few points on Doherty in the first set.

The Bruins ripped off six straight points to bust open a 2-2 tie, with two kills from right-side hitter Kristen Smith (four kills in the match), a nice cross-court shot from outside hitter Elise Sage (11 kills) and one from outside hitter Carrie Baird (eight kills).

After the Spartans (8-3) cut the lead to 9-6, the Bruins went on another spree, winning seven of the next nine points.

While the Bruins were racking up kills throughout the lineup, the player who might have hurt Doherty the most was 5-foot-8 senior Gabi Dewberry, voted the most valuable player of the tournament.

Dewberry is a part-time setter who hits all along the net. Creek coach Sally Moos uses her on the right, left and even on combination or second-tempo plays in the middle.

“Gabi’s just the most athletic player I’ve ever seen,” Bruins middle Sam Peters said. “Her sweat is all over this place. She’s outstanding as a setter and hitter and makes diving saves, which inspires the rest of the team to work harder.”

Dewberry, who soon will sign to play at Fullerton State in California, does everything well, but her specialty is crushing overpasses. An overpass is when the opposing team tries to send the ball to its setter but it carries over the net.

“I love them,” Dewberry said. “I always look forward to them because it’s where I get to hit my hardest. It’s like the perfect set.”

While Dewberry was also making a number of skin-peeling floor moves, the Bruins’ passing was keyed by Sage, who was victimized by only one serve, and that hit off the net and lost considerable speed.

Sage, a 6-foot senior, was shifted to outside hitter this season from middle blocker and has proved to be one of the Bruins’ best defenders.

“She can pass, and she’s really worked hard to get better at passing,” Moos said of Sage. “Gabi is a great athlete and uses her athletic ability to her best advantage. I think I’m most pleased with the fact that our team stayed together.”

Doherty was able to give the Bruins problems from its middle attack, featuring 6-2 sophomore Taylor Simpson (seven kills, one block) and 6-foot senior Kendra Fiddler (six kills, two blocks).

Much of the credit for their production goes to Doherty setter Vanessa Gemignani, who ran the middle well, even in transition.

“That’s kind of been our go-to right now,” Doherty coach Julie Ortiz said of the middle attack. “We just started out a little rough. Usually, we play with more fire than than.”

The Bruins were able to counter Doherty’s middles with Peters, who is looking good now that she’s fully recovered from her anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered before last season. Peters was able to play late last year but was wearing a leg brace and showed none of the mobility she currently has.

The other starting middle blocker for Cherry Creek, Andi Weber, had a little difficulty early on with a couple of hitting errors and was replaced by Caitlin Horsley, who had one killand one block.

Peters, Baird and Dewberry all were named to the all-tournament team, along with Gemignani and Simpson for Doherty.

Raptor Invitational

Grandview middle blocker Erica Denney has come back from a couple of summers with medals around her neck, the reward for helping her U.S. team do well in international competition.

Denney, a 6-4 junior, added more hardware to her collection Saturday by being named the most valuable player at Eaglecrest’s tournament. She helped the Wolves edge out Colorado Spring Christian, which features another age-group national team star in Morgan Broekhuis, in three games.

Denney is younger than Broekhuis, so they play on different national teams, but both are already some of the most highly recruited juniors in the country.

Grandview coach Patty Childress said the Wolves’ strategy focused a bit on Broekhuis, but the 6-5 Lions junior setter/hitter still hurt them.

“She did,” Childress said by phone after the Wolves won the title. “We tried to take away her line, because we thought that was her favorite shot, but she started cutting the ball for points.

“The other girl (Lions star Brianne VandeGriend) also did well, but Jill (Anderson) was able to get a couple of blocks on her. Erica had some big kills for us at the end. It just went down to the wire. It could have gone either way.”

Bruin Classic

Pool 1

Cherry Creek def. Horizon 25-11, 25-5; Cherry Creek def. Fort Collins 25-22, 25-16; Cherry Creek def. Ponderosa 25-22, 25-12; Ponderosa def. Fort Collins 21-25, 25-20, 16-14; Ponderosa def. Horizon 25-17, 25-12; Fort Collins def. Horizon 25-14, 25-13.

Pool 2

Columbine def. Durango 25-17, 25-14; Columbine def. Rocky Mountain 22-25, 25-21, 15-10; Columbine def. Palmer 25-10, 25-9; Rocky Mountain def. Durango 26-24, 25-20; Rocky Mountain def. Palmer 25-13, 25-9; Durango def. Palmer 25-22, 25-9.

Pool 3

Doherty def. Heritage 25-12, 25-17; Doherty def. Pomona 25-6, 25-22; Doherty def. Northglenn 25-6, 25-6; Heritage def. Pomona 25-21, 16-25, 15-13; Heritage def. Northglenn 26-24, 25-12; Pomona def. Northglenn 25-15, 25-15.

Silver bracket

Durango def. Horizon 25-12, 25-16; Palmer def. Northglenn 22-25, 25-15, 15-11

Gold bracket

Pomona def. Ponderosa 17-25, 27-25, 15-13; Heritage def. Fort Collins 25-22, 25-13

Championship bracket

Doherty def. Rocky Mountain 25-19, 25-16; Cherry Creek def. Columbine 25-16, 22-25, 15-9.

Seventh place: Durango def. Palmer 25-12, 25-18. Fifth place: Pomona def. Heritage 25-17, 23-25, 15-10. Third place: Columbine def. Rocky Mountain 25-20, 25-16. First place: Cherry Creek def. Doherty 25-18, 25-21.

Bruin Classic All-Tournament Team

Carrie Baird, Cherry Creek, Sr.; Amanda Brumit, Rocky Mountain, Sr.; Gabi Dewberry, Cherry Creek, Sr.; Alicia Dotson, Columbine, Sr.; Katerina Garcia, Durango, Sr.; Vanessa Gemignani, Doherty, Sr.; Krista Hilverding, Pomona, Jr.; Kendall Howard, Ponderosa, Jr.; Sarah Jaeckel, Heritage, Jr.; Ellen Miks, Columbine, Sr.; Sam Peters, Cherry Creek, Sr.; Elise Sage, Cherry Creek, Sr.; Katie Schimpf, Doherty, Sr.; Taylor Simpson, Doherty, So.; Kelsey Snider, Pomona, Jr.; Laura Steiner, Fort Collins, Fr.

Most valuable player: Gabi Dewberry, Cherry Creek

Raptor Invitational All-Tournament Team

Morgan Broekhuis, Colorado Springs Christian, Jr.; Erica Denney, Grandview, Jr.;

McCall Paynter, Grandview, Sr.; Tori Svalberg, Grandview, Sr.; Ariel Turner, Mountain Vista, Sr.; Brianne VandeGriend, Colorado Springs Christian, Jr.

Most valuable player; Erica Denney, Grandview

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