Sports

Boys’ Volleyball Loses to Grandview 3-2, Missing Out On Championship Playoffs

Boys’ varsity volleyball player senior outside hitter Zach Filene serves a ball during a match against a Grandview Pac the Place. Creek beat Grandview 3-2, placing 24-21, 25-23, and 15-8 in three sets out of five.

Isabel Alley, Staff Writer
May 15, 2023

Boys’ volleyball faced a difficult 3-2 loss to Grandview in a playoffs league tournament, causing their season to come to an end, and losing their shot at a 5A Championship title.

Creek’s 18-seed team faced off against 15-seed Grandview on April 29. Creek struggled in the beginning of the match, missing three potential starters. Grandview secured the second-seed in regional playoffs after the league tournament, and faced Fort Carson in the playoffs, winning 3-2.

“Definitely one factor that hurt us, our [freshman backrow player] Noah Reynolds was out for the last portion of the season due to an ankle injury,” senior captain and outside hitter Zack Filene said over text interview.

Despite the absence of key players, the match was close from the beginning, and went into 5 sets. Creek won the first and fourth sets, scoring 26-24 and 25-22 consecutively. Grandview won the remaining three, scoring 25-14, 25-16, and 15-13. In the end, Grandview pulled ahead and managed to win by two points in the fifth and final set of Creek’s season.

Not making it to playoffs was devastating for the team, and was combined with great disappointment losing their shot at the championship.

“It hurt to not make regionals because we competed with so many of the teams that made it even past regionals,” Filene said. ”Knowing that we could have had a chance at another trophy if we had just gotten a couple more points was disappointing.”

The team faced many matches where the scores were so close, demonstrating continued efforts to reach the championship game throughout the season. Despite constantly working to win matches, the team experienced continual losses by just a few points each time.

“The most difficult part of our season, however, was that on countless occasions we were a couple points away from winning in the 5th set and altering our path to the playoffs,” Filene said.

Although the loss was difficult to face for the players, they viewed the season as a year to re-establish their goals and unity as a team, and kept fighting until the end.

“We fought against a lot of tough teams and held our own, but at the end of the day it was more of a rebuilding year than anything,” senior outside hitter Lukas Rhodes said.