Last week the state officially approved boys’ volleyball as a sanctioned sport after a decades-long battle for accreditation.

And while state-wide changes will not take effect until the 2020-2021 school year, one area team has eyes on the school’s first boys’ volleyball state title as a pilot program.

The Cheyenne Mountain boys’ volleyball team claimed the southern regional Friday, defeating Grandview 2-0 (25-15, 25-17), punching its ticket to the 5A state championship next weekend.

“I think we’re going to take state next week,” Josh Berghorst said. “We’ve grown a lot this year, off the court too. It’s just been really fun.”

The Indians entered regionals with a 17-1 record, and their only loss to Ponderosa, who Cheyenne Mountain sees as their biggest competition heading into state.

Their success this season was credited in part to the bonded relationships, with none stronger than the team’s set of triplets, Zach, Josh and Matt Berghorst.

“We’ve been playing together for three years and we’ve really only lost one crucial player, so it’s been fun to see us grow as a team and to finally host regionals is really nice,” Zach Berghorst said. “We came into this season looking for a state title, so we’ve just been practicing for that.”

The Berghorst brothers began playing volleyball in sixth grade in Arizona, where boys’ volleyball was a long-accredited sport. When the brothers moved to Colorado during their freshman year they were surprised that the state didn’t have an accredited volleyball program.

“It's strange,” Josh Berghorst said. “In Arizona volleyball was a really big thing so our school team had three to four teams, and people actually came to our games, and then we moved here and we were like ‘What the heck?’”

But then they found Cheyenne Mountain.

“We started to manage the girls’ team and that’s really how we started to get to know people,” Matt Berghorst said.

The Berghorst brothers have been playing for the Indians for three seasons, and are eager to bring a title to Cheyenne Mountain.

“We all need to come together as a team and connect,” Zach Berghorst said. “If we stick together as a team and not focus on ourselves I think we’ll do it.”

Senior captain Liam Heaney leads the Indians averaging 3.3 kills per set, followed by Jack Lewis who averages 2.1. Grady Geiger is the team's top blocker with 16 total. Zach and Josh Berghorst lead the team behind the service line with 30 and 27 aces, respectively.

The Indians play under coach Shelley Small, who works for the coaching accreditation program at USA Volleyball, and made their first state tournament appearance in 2018. Cheyenne Mountain also has a 3A team coached by Pete Burton, who was the 5A program’s interim coach on Friday as Small was out of town on USA Volleyball business.

“I really did expect them to do well and win because they are highly tuned right now and they’re ready to play,” Burton said. “They want to win state. That is their goal and they will not stop for anything short.”