Brennan Miles created the perfect visual for the Discovery Canyon boys volleyball team’s run through the 5A state tournament.

On Saturday, the Thunder senior outside hitter chased down a ball that ricocheted off the body of a teammate and threatened to land out of bounds. The ball never touched the hardwood, however, as Miles tracked it down and hit it back into play before crashing into the netting that separated the two matches of play at Fountain-Fort Carson’s Trojan Arena. The poles supporting the netting fell as a result, but fortunately, Miles was unscathed and untangled himself before returning to play seconds later.  

Despite the effort, third-seeded Grandview won the point over the fifth-seeded Thunder and eventually took the match in straight sets, 25-14, 25-16, 25-18, to earn a spot in the state final.

Discovery Canyon’s season may have stopped short of the ultimate prize, but Miles and the rest of the team are proud of the fight and resilience they showed.

“I really didn’t want that to be our last game,” Miles said of his mindset during the play. “You gotta lead by example and so that’s what I was trying to do is hustle out there and show everyone else, it’s like ‘This game ain’t over, we’re not done.’”

While the never-say-die mentality wasn’t enough to overcome the Wolves on Saturday, it was enough to propel Discovery Canyon on a run that Miles and his teammates will likely remember for the rest of their lives. 

After beating Rampart in the first round of the double-elimination tournament on Thursday, Discovery Canyon fell to No. 1 seed Eaglecrest in the second round on Friday. That evening, the Thunder began its journey through the elimination bracket.

First up was seventh-seeded Legacy. The match was as epic as the schools’ respective mascots. The Thunder and Lightning clashed in a five-set thriller. The teams extended the final set well past the usual 15-point threshold as Discovery Canyon battled off multiple match points for Legacy and claimed victory by a 23-21 margin.  

Miles said the driving force for Discovery Canyon during team huddles was that same “game ain’t over” mentality. 

Friday evening’s match was a special one for Thunder coach Mallory Richardson, who was an assistant to former coach Wayne Wetherby in 2022 and 2023 when the Thunder claimed state titles.

Wetherby was in attendance for the Thunder’s playoff run, and the two shared a lighthearted moment following the match. 

“I told him that they take 10 years off of my age every time they do that to me,” Richardson said. “We should have, I think, had that match closer to the third and fourth set and we just started backing off a little bit. We shouldn’t have. We got comfortable.”

The team was careful not to make the same mistake on Saturday in the match against second-seeded Littleton Public Schools. After Discovery Canyon took the first set, Littleton claimed set No. 2. The Thunder trailed 5-9 in the third but recovered to take the set and the fourth, punching a ticket to the final game of the elimination bracket against Grandview. 

“I think we tried really hard to stay consistent. I think we struggled a little bit, throughout that second set, with trying to find a neutral ground to play against them. Because I think they were really a solid matchup for who we were,” Richardson said. “I explained to them in that timeout, ‘This is a pivotal moment. We’re down, it’s pivotal for us to turn this game around on our side. What do we gotta clean up, what do we gotta do, to put this ball away to get these points?'”

Richardson and Discovery Canyon are working their way back to the days of hoisting state titles and hanging banners in their gymnasium, and they’ve been one step closer each season since Wetherby’s departure. Discovery Canyon lost at regionals in 2024, suffered two quick defeats at state last year and was one match shy of the title game this season. 

The Thunder had a double-digit ranking earlier in the season but entered the state tournament as a dangerous fifth seed thanks to a tremendous effort. It’s one the team will look to build upon as Miles built upon the foundation laid by those before him. 

“(Two years ago) I wasn’t on varsity, but still just watching on the sidelines, watching the big guys eat,” he said. “They were out there playing ball so I was just looking up to them and then finally, being here last year, it was definitely disappointing, definitely was a struggle, getting out that early. This year, made it much further, and it was also a relief. I didn’t think we were going to make it this far. We made it farther and so that was a huge accomplishment for the whole team.”