Gallery • 9 Photos

Aubrey Hall

McKayla Cully (9) high-fives her teammates. She is the only freshman on this year's varsity team.

On Saturday, November 7, athletes and fans alike gathered in the new gym of the high school for this year’s regional high school volleyball tournament.

Going into the tournament, Manitou had yet to lose a single home game. In the first match, Manitou faced-off against the Brush Beetdiggers, winning all three sets by a margin of nine or more points, resulting in an overall win over Brush.

In the final match of the tournament, after the two visiting teams played one another, Manitou took on Bayfield, who they had beaten in a match at last year’s state tournament. Manitou took the first set with ease, beating Bayfield by nine points. In the second set, victory seemed uncertain, but Manitou pulled out yet another win, beating Bayfield by two points. In the third set, Manitou reigned victorious once more, with a final score of 25 to 20. With that, the Mustangs were once more awarded the title of regional champions.

Though Manitou has beaten Bayfield in the past, the win was anything but guaranteed. “We weren’t going to accept anything other than winning,” said Katie Mckiel (12) “, but you still have to work, you still have to fight to get there so we knew what our goal was and we worked our butts off to get there.”

McKiel says that the team has a lot to prove, and is at the peak of their season. “We still have to work on our mental game, but other than that we’re just going to keep doing what we know how to do and just take it to these teams at state.”

Manitou is currently the eighth highest-ranked team among Colorado class 3A schools. The state tournament will take place at the Denver Coliseum on November 13 and 14.