Sometimes it pays to be the underdog. And that position certainly paid off Friday for the four lower seeds at the Class 3A state volleyball tournament at the Denver Coliseum.

It is somewhat hard to call Faith Christian an underdog, especially since the Eagles entered the tournament with a 24-1 record and had the classification's leader in kills, Hannah Gibeau, pacing the way. The No. 6 seed gets that designation, though.

Eaton (17-8), the No. 7 seed, eighth- seeded University and No. 5 Valley certainly created some waves, as well, for the top-seeded teams. When the first day of action was over, the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeded teams all had two losses with little or no chance to advance to the semifinals today.

Faith Christian started Pool 2 play by beating No. 3 The Classical Academy 25-13, 25-15, 25-22, then followed by dropping No. 2 Platte Valley 25-21, 25-10, 24-26, 25-18. The Eagles will play Eaton for the No. 1 seed from Pool 2.

Eaton rolled past Platte Valley 25-13, 25-13, 25-3 in first-round action, then beat The Classical Academy. University beat No. 4 Holy Family in a Pool 1 upset.

"I think our seed is appropriate, since we lost our last match in regionals," Gibeau said. "Hopefully, we'll come out higher (today). It would have helped if we had ended the (Platte Valley) match after the third game, when we had them at match point.

"We knew that after Platte Valley had lost their first match that we had to come out strong, and that helped us out a lot," Gibeau said. "We have an amazing libero, and our setter, Kelly Tycksen, just laid the ball up for us. It was really cool."

Eaton, aided by Gracie Howe, also believed there was no pressure because of its underdog role.

"It's really exciting, because none of us have been here before," Howe said. "That's the underdog thing, you come out from underneath. We were really gunning for Platte Valley since we lost to them in the regular season, and we just went for it."

Valley has the smallest team in the field, with no players surpassing the 6- foot mark. Vikings coach Rene Aafeldt's squad also has no seniors. Still, it dominated the court against Holy Family, sparked by 5-foot-4 setter Savannah Garcia and outside hitter Sierra Bennett.

"We've just worked hard as a team, and that's what got us here," Garcia said. "We talk on the court, and that gives us great communication. We have nothing to lose, and that helps us play relaxed."

There was to be no upset as far as four-time defending champion Colorado Springs Christian was concerned. The Lions, although playing "tight," according to coach Mike Broekhuis, beat University 3-0, then handed Valley a 3-1 setback.

Colorado Springs Christian all-

stater Morgan Broekhuis, the daughter of the Lions' head coach, said Valley's relaxed attitude helped the Vikings throughout.

"(Valley) stepped up and they hit the ball hard against us," said Broekhuis, who uses her 6-5 frame to her advantage. "That forced us to play harder against them. You see small teams and you kind of wonder about them. They are small and they presented different challenges."

So, did Valley find a weakness others could take advantage of the rest of the way?

"For a bunch of small girls hitting, they found our holes, they did a nice job," Mike Broekhuis said. "We've played tight all day, and that's something we need to talk about. I don't know what it is, perhaps feeling the pressure. The kids hear about (being defending state champions), we got through regionals and we hear more and more about it. I think it got to us. We did not play loose like we like to play."