New Vail Peak Volleyball Club tops 56 teams from 24 states to win prestigious Colorado Crossroads tournament

The Vail Peak Volleyball club took first place in the U17 girls “classic” division at the Colorado Crossroads tournament last weekend in Denver.

The squad — which includes players from all four Eagle County high schools — went 9-0, dropping only two sets over three days to top the 56-team field. Vail Peak Volleyball defeated teams from eight different states, including Colorado, Nevada, Texas, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico and Oklahoma. The classic bracket featured teams from 24 states.

“It sounds cliche, but this truly was a team effort,” said head coach Chad Brasington. “We only carry nine players, so everyone plays every game. Some teams have players skip rotations, but these athletes all played every game.”

Lela Goehring and Weston Phillips led the way with 40 and 39 kills through the tourney, respectively, while Sam Bates had 87 serves and a passer rating of 2.2. Tenley Brasington tallied 171 assists across nine games.

“The team rose to the challenge and played incredibly well,” Brasington said before noting the toughest game wasn’t the finals but the match with a team from Tulsa, Oklahoma that boasted multiple college-bound players.

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“They looked impressive but our block shut down their best hitters and the few that got through were dug by our back row,” Brasington said. “You could see the bravado turn to frustration on their faces when they realized what they were up against.”

Phillips and Ruthie Casey were huge in the game against Tulsa and both hit double-digit blocks over the weekend.

Brandon Boseman and Michelle Stoltzfus founded the Vail Peak Volleyball Club less than two years ago “in an effort to create a local volleyball community that could help foster the growth and development of our area’s highest performing athletes,” Boseman said.

“At a level that keeps them here in Eagle County and not looking to the Front Range or Grand Junction for club volleyball,” he added.

The season runs from November to May, with practices happening twice a week in addition to skills clinics and open gyms spread throughout the season. Athletes go through a tryout to get selected.

“In order for us to get to the highest levels of growth and development on the court, we need the best possible competition in our practices, so it’s hugely important to us that we have athletes in our program that represent the best volleyball players from across all of the local schools,” Boseman said. “Ultimately, keeping these local athletes together for club season helps to raise the level of play for all of the local high schools, so it’s a win for everyone.”

The Colorado Crossroads tournament was the second tournament for the team. A week prior, Vail placed third at the RMR Classic.

“So, we just wanted to play hard and prove that wasn’t a fluke,” Brasington said.

While Boseman said what matters aren’t just wins and losses but lessons, he described the win at the Colorado Crossroads event as “truly special.”

“It demonstrates how high of a level our local athletes can rise to when they stay together and work hard towards a common goal,” he said.

The team has one more local event over Valentine’s Day weekend before heading to the Sunshine Classic in Orlando and Red Rocks in Las Vegas in March.