That night, in a second game unforeseen by even the most optimistic Rampart fan, it happened.
Pikes Peak No. 1 Rampart won 15-6, 15-0 at No. 3 Coronado in the 5A Metro League opener for both teams. But that second game wasn’t a standard 15-0. After a side-out on Coronado’s first serve, Van Der Most served 15 consecutive times as the Rams won the second game without losing their serve.
Yes, Rampart, ranked No. 6 nationally by StudentSports.com, is good. But so is Coronado (10-3), a team with legitimate aspirations of reaching the state tournament.
Rampart (12-1) ran the table in the second game with the benefit of only one Coronado hitting error.
"That’s a show of force," Rampart coach Rick Kamm said. "It’s something you don’t anticipate is going to happen, especially against Coronado."
The Van Der Most household predicted the shutout. As per team tradition, each Rampart player wore a white T-shirt with writing on it to school the day of the Coronado match. Mike Van Der Most made the shirts for his two daughters, including the one for Breanna that read "SCOREBOARD" and 15-0 for Rampart on the back.
"I didn’t say it," senior Christina Van Der Most said, "but I thought that jinxed it at first."
There was no such jinx.
"We know who they are," Coronado coach Joan Powell said. "We prepared for them the best we could. The second game was. . . ." She didn’t finish.
"They’re picked No. 1 in the league, and they’re No. 1 right now."
In Game 1, Coronado gave Rampart a good fight. After the Rams jumped to a 5-0 lead, they worked for almost every point as Coronado played solid defense and blocked well.
Rampart scored the game’s final four points without relinquishing the serve - a foreshadowing of Game 2.
The Rams spread the offense among Heidi Kellermann, Callie Kiselich and , Kristen Karlik in the second game. Kellermann, who led her team with nine kills and nine digs, even had a solo block in Game 2 - a rare feat for an outside hitter, who usually gets help from the middle.
Even Coronado’s two timeouts didn’t stop the momentum, as Rampart’s dominance quieted the Cougar fans who showed up in their usual red-and-yellow splendor.
Kamm said after the match that part of him wanted a longer second game, so his players could get more work in before Tuesday’s showdown at No. 2 Doherty, a match that features two teams considered among the state’s top three.
"The way it turned out," Kamm said, "I’m not complaining."
Rampart’s Heidi Kellermann tries to hit the ball past Coronado's
Elizabeth Bitz (left) and Nicole Schumacher on Thursday at Coronado. Rampart,
ranked sixth in the nation by StudentSports.com, never relinquished the serve
to Pikes Peak No. 3 Rampart in the second game, and won 15-6, 15-0. The score
belied the tenacity of the Cougars, who had just one hitting error in the second game.