The Thomas Jefferson Spartans travel to Legend High School and do a good job representing the DPS League.
A great season for Spartan Volleyball comes to a rewarding close. Photo by Henry Jackson
The Spartans started off their two-day tournament playing 5A school, Regis Jesuit. Regis came out of the gate strong, and beat the Spartans by six points in the first set. But the Spartans proved they wanted to keep their long winning streak alive and come back to beat Regis 25-16. In the 3rd and final set Regis and TJ ping-ponged points back and forth carrying the game into overtime, until the Spartans gained the lead and won 16-14. This was a very important win for the Spartans because the Regis Raiders were a high ranked 5A team.
Aaron Hendricks traveled all the way to Legend to support his fellow Spartans. “I was really nervous because we were only up by one point, but I turned my back around and we won the final point to end the match.”
The second match of the day was TJ verses 5A school Grand Junction. The Spartans started well and continued to play well the whole match. They kept consistent leads on the Tigers, and won each game by over five points. The Spartans played hard and ended the match in just two sets. “I knew we were going to win. The other team didn’t play that well, so I knew they didn’t have a chance,” said Hendricks.
On the Saturday, October 27th, the Spartans started off their game at 8:30 a.m., playing the only other 4A team at the tournament, Vista Ridge. TJ dominated the Wolves both sets. The first set TJ won 25-9, and the second set was even worse, as the Spartans beat the Wolves 25-4! “We played great as a team,” said Henderson. One of TJ’s strengths in this match were serves. They scored a total of 12 aces in just that match.
Winning all three matches created a spot for the Spartans in the championship match against 5A state runner-up Grand View. As the match started, Grand View gained a formidable lead and beat the Spartans 25-16. This strong first impression surprised the Spartans, but it wasn’t enough to knock them off their feet. The Spartans came back and won the next set 25-15. But TJ couldn’t keep the momentum going, which resulted in them losing the final set. This heartbreaking loss broke TJ’s impressive winning streak of 19 games straight.
Even though TJ lost one game, they still managed to take second place. The Spartan volleyball team was proud to represent DPS, and did a good job making TJ proud. They proved they were capable of beating tough teams including Regis Jesuit and Grand Junction. They also showed they can hang with the big dogs taking a game from last year’s state runner-up Grand View. “We’ve proved a lot this weekend and now everyone knows that we’re a force to be reckoned with,” said Coach Kathleen Nickless.
