First season in the books for Niwot boys volleyball

Reaching the state regionals tournament would have been nice, but head coach John Miller couldn't have asked for much more out of Niwot High School's inaugural varsity boys volleyball season.

Miller entered the campaign hoping to simply be competitive in Year 1, and his Cougars fulfilled that goal with an 11-12 overall record. Niwot's team, which includes student-athletes from across the St. Vrain Valley School District, also went 6-6 in the strong Northern 1 League following a four-set loss at Poudre School District on May 2.

"Overall, I think it went really, really well," Miller said looking back on the season. "We finished up fourth in the league and we were competitive with everybody - with all the top three teams. We were competitive with some of the top teams in the state – we gave them good runs for their money in tournaments, so we're definitely on the right track."

Sophomores Jenu Ngialah and Cooper Chudleigh, and junior Sage Xiong each produced over 100 kills, senior Kaiden Box led the Cougars with 48 total blocks, and junior Max Owens had a team-best 232 assists. In just his freshman year, Gabe Victor was another standout who averaged 3.1 digs and 4.2 receptions per set.

Of the eight Cougars who played in at least 40 sets, only Box, Jack Klein and Luke Xu are graduating this spring, which has Miller optimistic about the future of his young program.

"We have a lot of returning players coming back next year, a lot of underclassmen," Miller said. "We had really successful JV and C Team programs this year, too. There's a ton of upcoming players to continue to grow through the future."

The JV Cougars ended their season with a satisfying win over Poudre, a team that had previously beaten them in a tournament championship game. Plus, Miller said that Niwot's C Team even beat a few JV squads throughout the year.

Niwot also fielded a developmental D Team that practiced 3-4 times per week.

Following a strong first season for each of Niwot's four teams, Miller believes the program's foundation is set for continued growth.

"I'm excited for next year and I'm sure the guys are excited," Miller said. "At the end of the season, we talked a little about looking forward to next year, taking the next step and building on what we started this year."