January 22, 2025
LOVELAND, Colo. – In a championship volleyball match, you can blink at the wrong time and miss your opportunity to dictate the action.
For Bergen Stiff, keeping her eyes wide open (and her right arm loaded) gave Kairos Alpha the best look Monday at the Colorado Challenge 16 Elite title.
Based out of South Dakota, Kairos Alpha bounced back after dropping its first two pool-play matches to win seven in a row, topping South Country in the semifinals (25-14, 25-9) before working past VC Nebraska (25-23, 25-17) in this competitive MLK Holiday test, powered by Colorado Juniors and Triple Crown Sports at the NORCO club complex.
After VC Nebraska closed the Set 1 margin after falling behind 20-13, Stiff got her attack plans in full rhythm and polished off numerous kills to help secure the win. Her hot hand combined with some devastating serves from Kaitlyn Hardie to keep the trend going in Set 2 as Kairos opened up an 11-2 advantage and never led by fewer than six points the rest of the way.
“I trusted my swing and trusted my training; Kairos does such a great job with that, and I just go after it and swing big. If it gets blocked, so be it,” said Stiff, whose ability to stack points pushed Kairos from a skinny 21-19 lead in Set 1 to the eventual win. “It’s so important to come back strong (in the next set); we made this long trip from South Dakota, and it’s important to take a breath and do what you can for your team and yourself.
“We had a lot of blocks (in the second set) and those are momentum changers. We were able to use our verticals there.”
Hardie’s serve skills helped Kairos burst free with eight straight points at the start of Set 2.
“It feels natural; I feel like my team always has my back and has complete confidence in me,” Hardie said. “It’s really exciting to (serve well) – it gets them out of system and helps our team. Our first day here didn’t go the way we wanted, so winning it all at the end makes us feel very good.”
The second set showed Kairos asserting itself at the net and causing trouble with its taller, lengthier players – Ruthie Robinson smoked several points on slide plays and Ravyn Medricky’s capacities in blocking shots created lots of obstacles for VC Nebraska, which nonetheless got an outstanding effort in the final set from Alli Bornschlegl.
“Bergen is a spunky kid who brings a lot to the team, energy-wise. If we can get her going, it seems to fuel the whole thing,” said Kairos coach Haylee Vosler. “We knew we’d come a long way since the start of the tournament, and our goal in the final was to put the foot on the gas pedal and keep it going. We’ve got a 6-foot-1 setter and middles who are ready to run; they all did a great job. All the way around, the team balled out together.”
In other age group action, Fight Club’s 17 Elite topped Kairos in a hard-fought 29-27, 25-21 win for that title. Idaho Crush prevailed in the 15 Elite and 14 Elite championship, and Colorado Juniors took the crown at 13 Elite.