HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — The Valor Christian High School volleyball team made history this week, but it’s a celebration that has felt strangely quiet.
“This is the ball we won the fourth state championship with,” said assistant coach Becca Waitman.
Instead of placing their new trophy beside the others at school, the players carried all four into a different room — the one where they felt they belonged most.
“Just wanted to honor her by having them in her office,” said coach Tricia Knoll.
That’s the office of head coach Jayne McHugh, who lost her battle with leukemia just minutes after the team won that historic fourth-straight state title.
Their four-peat is something no 5A team has ever accomplished in Colorado.
“Not at the 5A level, it’s never been done,” Knoll said.
The team held the game ball from that title match gently in their hands.
Standing in the gym, the team told Denver7 that it is hard to be excited when you're just as sad about something else.
“She was just so sweet,” said Bergan Waitman, team senior captain.
In the final two months of McHugh’s battle with leukemia, Knoll left her full-time job to guide the team.
And when the championship match clock hit 8:15 p.m. — McHugh’s old jersey number, No. 15 — the players felt something bigger than volleyball.
After the victory, Bergan took the game ball straight from the court to McHugh’s hospital bed.
“It was truly so special,” Bergan said. “Just getting to see her, tell her we love her — it was truly so special. It was amazing, honestly.”
Just one hour later, on Nov. 15, the team learned their coach had passed.
“At 10:25, we got a text that she had passed away but that she had gotten the game ball, and she knew," said senior Jenna Bell.
That ball, touched by every player in their biggest game, became the last ball Jayne held.
Joy and heartbreak now sit side by side for the Valor Christian Eagles.
But they have each other.
They have their memories.
And they have a fourth state championship — this one for Coach Jayne.
