Niwot volleyball remains undefeated

The wins just keep coming for Daisha Agho and the Niwot volleyball team. During the first week of April, the Cougars dispatched three more opponents in the new Longs Peak League, improving to 7-0 on the season, and moving up to third overall in the Class 4A state rankings. One of those opponents was Frederick, an up-and-coming team that is also making its way up the rankings, and that managed to win a set against Niwot for the first time all season.

"I'm actually not upset about that loss," Agho said after Niwot's 25-18, 25-15, 19-25, 25-14 victory over the Warriors on April 3. "I'll take it because, at some point, you have to learn. So if we can take that and use it as a major learning experience for us, some of the stuff that we need to work on because we haven't had a chance to really see some of those things yet."

Niwot dominated in the first and second sets, led by an energetic effort from junior Zoe Gibbs. In the third set, however, Niwot's offense started to flag, leading to errors, bad bounces, and, ultimately, a six-point defeat. But behind Gibbs and junior Morgan Daugherty, the Cougars came back strong in the fourth set, putting the Warriors away for good.

"Morgan today was phenomenal for us," Agho said. "There were still some moments of amazing Cougar volleyball, and if we can just put those together a lot more, we'll be fine."

Niwot had solid contributions from across the court against Frederick, but senior MacKenzie Demmel was especially effective in the final stretch of the second and fourth sets, with timely kills and blocks. Sophomores Angie Xu and Varshini Panuganti were also in top form against the Warriors, with crucial digs and assists.

Niwot has another full week of volleyball coming up during the second week of April, with three matches in four days, including one at home on April 8 against defending conference champion Thompson Valley, their toughest opponent of the 2021 season so far.