2 days ago
This Fort Collins volleyball player is Blue FCU's fall Preseason Top Girls Athlete
Your votes are in, and we have our 2025 Fort Collins-area preseason fall girls Player of the Year.
Fort Collins volleyball fans made their votes count, spurring Lambkins senior Caitlin Cripe above a crowded ballot and earning her top honors in the Coloradoan's preseason fan polling.
Congratulations to Caitlin and thank you to fans across the area for voting!
Cripe got 51.1% of the vote in a tightly contested race that featured several other volleyball standouts from the Coloradoan's preseason players to watch list.
Here's how the rest of the top five shook out in the fan poll:
2nd: Addi Forrest, Poudre volleyball (25.1%)
3rd: Kensley Story, Wellington softball (9.9%)
4th: Annabelle Loucks, Heritage Christian volleyball (6.5%)
5th: Vanessa Branchflower, PSD flag football (3.3%)
Cripe is Fort Collins' top returning net presence after a junior season that featured 70 kills and 44 blocks from a middle blocker role.
The senior will be looking to lead the Lambkins back to the Class 5A postseason after a rare one-year absence last fall.
Cripe is also a standout club player for the Premier Volleyball Club, using her 6-foot frame and 9-foot-5 approach jump to soar above the net and win contested balls.
The Coloradoan will have more fan polling for top players throughout the school year. Check every Monday and Thursday for nominees and winners in our weekly Blue Federal Credit Union Athlete of the Week series.
You can send in Athlete of the Week nominations every week to sports reporter Chris Abshire via email: ChrisAbshire@
Final poll results below:
Chris Abshire covers high school and community sports for the Coloradoan.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins volleyball's Caitlin Cripe voted Preseason Top Girls Athlete
