Colorado sports community mourns beloved Valor Christian High School volleyball coach Jayne McHugh

Colorado's sports community is remembering longtime coach Jayne Gibson-McHugh after a battle with cancer.

After representing the United States in Olympic volleyball as a player and coaching at her alma mater Arvada West High School, McHugh served as director and head coach of the girls volleyball program at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, where she led the team to multiple state titles.

McHugh died Saturday after fighting an aggressive form of cancer.

Seniors on this year's varsity team gathered on a teammate's couch to reflect on how McHugh shaped their lives not only as athletes, but as people.

Bergen Waitman said she was intimidated at first to be playing for a coach like Waitman.

"She had such a record of just an amazing high school career, college career, and she was in the Olympics," Waitman said.

Tegan Beuhler said McHugh's approach stood out.

"She loved so hard, and it was new to me," she said. "In sports, I feel with coaches sometimes, you don't feel that love. Jayne was truly like our best friend and she cared about us so much. It was incredible."

Jenna Bell said she felt pressure at first, but soon realized she didn't need to impress McHugh.

"She sees all your wonderful qualities in everyone," Bell said. "She has both qualities of being tough and also -- I don't want to say 'like a mother,' but yes."

"She was passionate about everything in her life," senior Payton Kurulak said. "She was passionate about the people in her life."

Sam Brown said she felt McHugh's support immediately: "She doesn't look at all the things that are wrong that I'd think I messed up on; she was looking at what I could achieve."

McHugh started this season as she had in years past, with a retreat at a teammate's home for all Valor teams, from freshmen through varsity.

"She knew we had to come outside of volleyball to trust each other, to learn each other's personalities, to be a unit; we just really had to bond," said Becca Waitman, Bergen's mother, who also coached with McHugh. "That's women, right? We girls need to bond. She knew this retreat was important."

Bergen Waitman said the seniors' tradition of sharing letters to their freshman selves is a highlight every year.

"Jayne knew exactly what she was doing," she said. "We needed that at the beginning of the season to be a team that was together."

McHugh built strong teams, winning three consecutive 5A state championships. The goal this season was to claim one more.

But early in the season, McHugh stepped away after a cancer diagnosis hospitalized her.

"For the first couple of weeks, she was on a FaceTime call," Bell said. "We would say, 'hi, Jayne,' and she'd say, 'OK, here you go, we're going to do this.'"

No longer able to coach courtside, she asked Trisha Kroll to step in.

"We united to play for that higher purpose and for her," Beuhler said, "to show everyone this is Jayne's team. This is who she picked."

"Although Jayne couldn't be with us," Bell said, "her voice was loud even though she wasn't there."

Valor returned to state last weekend, competing for another title. After losing on Day Two to Rock Canyon, Valor battled back on Day Three, winning three games to become the first girls' high school volleyball team in Colorado history to claim a fourth consecutive state championship.

But the celebration was bittersweet.

Unknown to the players, McHugh was dying.

They brought her the winning ball.

McHugh left the world the same way she lived in it: remarkably.

"For us to be able to bring that ball up and just tell her, 'Jayne, we did it. We did it. And we did it for you,'" Becca Waitman said. "You have instilled so many great habits in these girls -- discipline, desire to be loving to each other, to be with each other, and we did it."

CBS News Colorado anchor Karen Leigh, whose daughter played on the team, said McHugh will be deeply missed.