The Otis High School volleyball team qualified for the Class 1A State Tournament, this week at the Denver Coliseum.
Unfortunately, the Bulldogs were knocked out by Friday morning, losing to Simla on Thursday, then losing in the elimination bracket to Dove Creek, Friday morning. (1A State Volleyball)
Otis was the 10th-seed in the 12-team state tournament, qualifying as one of four wildcards after going 1-1 in its regional at Simla, last Friday.
In fact, the Bulldogs open state tourney play today, November 10, at approximately 12:30 p.m. against seventh-seed Simla, who they barely lost to last Friday in a tight five-set match. The winner will play again today at approximately 6:30 p.m. against second-seed Kit Carson. The loser of the Otis-Simla match will drop into the elimination bracket and play Friday at approximately 9:30 a.m.
The tournament is double-elimination so everyone has a chance to still advance to the semifinals after their first loss. Winners Bracket semifinals will be Friday, along with two rounds in the Elimination Bracket. Elimination Bracket finals will be Saturday morning, followed by the semifinals in the afternoon. The 
championship will be at 6 p.m.
Otis entered the 1A tourney with an 18-6 record.
The Bulldogs opened regional action last Friday afternoon with a 28-26, 25-18, 25-16 win over Prairie. Statistics were not available.
They then took on regional host Simla, and nearly earned an automatic bid to state as the regional champion. However, they ended up losing a five-set thriller.
It did not look good early as Simla claimed the first two sets, 25-22, 25-16. However, the Bulldogs rallied after that with two dominant wins, 25-14, 25-17. Simla regained the momentum, though, with a 15-10 in the deciding fifth set. Otis statistics were not available.
In the end, it did not really matter much, as the Bulldogs get another shot at Simla today. Merino is the top seed in the 1A field.
