MHS volleyball earns district title

HIGHLANDS RANCH — “Wow! We just won Districts” Head coach Shane Forrest was excited in commenting on a 4-0 performance by her Indian volleyball squad in the district 8 bracket of the first round of the state post season, played at Rock Canyon High School.

Montrose was seeded No. 2 behind host Rock Canyon in the five-team district 8 bracket. As the preliminary to the regional tournament, the district level is composed of eight brackets, from which two teams qualify to move on to the regional tournaments, set for Saturday, November 1. Regional sites will be determined at the CHSAA seeding/pairing meeting Sunday following districts. Teams seeded No. 1 through 4 will host regionals.

The Southwestern League Champion Montrose Indians were intially matched up against against Harrison High School from Colorado Springs and Battle Mountain from the Vail area in their three-team pool.

Harrison went down in three straight sets: 25-7, 25-12, and 25-8 in the opening match, but Battle Mountain posed a bigger challenge. Forrest was especially pleased to avenge their season-opening loss to Battle Mountain, but it took five sets to do it.

Emerging undefeated from the first pool, Montrose then had to take on Palisade in the first crossover match. After defeating Palisade in straight sets of 25-18, 25-13, and 25-16, the Indians then had to face top-seeded and host Rock Canyon for the district 8 championship.

With the team obviously tired after three matches, Forrest did not expect to take Rock Canyon out in straight sets. So when the team won with three consecutive set scores of 25-22, she was elated. “I don’t have any individual who stood out. Everyone did their job. It was a huge team effort.”