DENVER — Sure, Village’s seed at the state girls volleyball tournament implies “underdog.”

But the Mountaineers’ title — the golden trophy at Village High School and their status as 3A defending champions — shows they remain top dogs. 

And the Mountaineers demonstrated that in their first and second round victories at Denver Coliseum on Thursday. 

The Mountaineers, 3A’s No. 12 seed, swept No. 5 Stargate School 25-12, 25-22, 25-23 in the first round and No. 4 Forge Christian 25-19, 25-23, 25-22, to advance to Friday’s third round. Village will face No. 1 Alamosa at 2 p.m. Friday. 

“We put a good game plan together for both teams and we executed how we wanted to,” Village coach Shannon Baker said. “It’s about if we can play our best volleyball. If we play our best volleyball, we’re hard to beat.” 

Village (20-7) remained undefeated at the state tournament and have won six consecutive matches. Last year’s Mountaineers went 4-0 at the state tournament with a host of senior talent. 

This year’s Village squad had a shaky start and began the season 1-5. At no point did Baker’s stoic demeanor waver. 

“We had to play a bunch of 5A schools off the bat with a bunch of freshmen and we struggled,” Baker said. “But I had and have confidence in this team and then we found our groove. I don’t feel like an underdog, I know our seeding is low, but I feel like we have the pieces to do something special.”

Insert Norah Hollis. A key cog in the Mountaineers’ success and the athlete who earned several key kills to stave off the Fury in the second round’s final set.

Hollis, a sophomore for the Mountaineers, broke her back during regionals in 2024 and started this season with mononucleosis. Hollis is no longer infectious, but her spirit and tenacity continue to spread among the team. 

The Mountaineers outside hitter heaped praise on her teammates for the mentality shift to start games, which propelled Village to the third round. 

“Sometimes after a bus ride, we struggle with our serve-and-pass game, but we ripped with our serve-and-pass game (Thursday),” Hollis said. “Our serving came in clutch and our passing was amazing and that’s what won us the whole game.” 

Addison Miller orchestrated the Mountaineers’ pass game and the senior collected her 1,000th career assist in the second round. 

Mountaineer fans who traveled to the Coliseum serenaded Miller postgame with cheers and golden balloons that, after a few fans shuffled into position, read “1,000.”

Miller used her left hand to wipe away tears and embraced players as they celebrated the achievement. The senior’s right elbow featured an ice pack after the match, an issue Miller said she’ll “address in nine days.” 

“I’m getting ulnar nerve replacement surgery and I’ll be out for six to eight weeks,” Miller said. “I’m fighting through it and trying to do it for my team in hopes that we’ll pull out another championship.” 

Miller said the pain registered at “a five or six” on a 10 scale during the match, but the freshman continued to serve her teammates so they could kill — in volleyball terms, of course — their competition.  

“I’m grateful for this team and this season,” Miller said. “Every win we get we fight for it and that’s part of who we are as The Village. Getting to 1,000 (assists) in a win was very gratifying.”