Sierra Vista, Silverado to play for 4A state volleyball title — PHOTOS
Sierra Vista and Green Valley needed a fifth set to determine who would advance to the Class 4A girls volleyball state championship match.
After losing the second and third sets, Sierra Vista dug deep to rally and will play for the title.
The Mountain Lions, the Mountain League champion, defeated Lake League champion Green Valley 25-19, 21-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-10 in a 4A state semifinal Thursday night at Sunrise Mountain.
Sierra Vista (23-12) will play Silverado, the Lake League’s No. 2 seed, at 2 p.m. Saturday at Sunrise Mountain for the 4A state title.
“It’s been awhile (since we’ve been to the state title match), it’s been (since 2022),” Sierra Vista coach Raymond Maika said. “We have a young team with two of our senior core (players), and they kept these guys going when they were down. All season long, it’s perseverance, we just kept coming back and not giving up on each other.”
Silverado (17-13) defeated Sky League champion Coral Academy (25-14) by scores of 25-10, 25-13, 25-6 in the other semifinal.
“It feels awesome for the girls,” Silverado coach Kevin Schwallie said. “They put in a ton of work, and they deserve it. It’s all for them.”
For Sierra Vista, freshman outside hitter Averie Gidge delivered with 17 kills, two blocks and two aces.
Sierra Vista took the first two sets, attacking Green Valley (30-12) early before the Gators took the second and third sets.
It appeared Green Valley was on its way to a win, as it took an 8-1 lead in the fourth set, but Sierra Vista chipped away at the deficit and took advantage of several errors to force a fifth set.
Sierra Vista clinched match point in the fifth set on an out of bounds hit.
Junior Presley Hartstron had 10 kills and four aces for the Mountain Lions. Maika credited senior middle blockers Kenna Key and Sienna Rhein for keeping the team steady.
“We had the mantra the whole season, next man up,” Maika said. “It was good to have depth, and we kept a big roster for a reason. … The maturity has grown from August to tonight big time.”
Skyhawks sweep
Silverado showcased its depth against Coral Academy. Jaida Rainey had nine kills, and Penina Fakatoumafi recorded five kills, four aces and two blocks.
“We’ve asked them to do certain things to try to match up to other teams, and they’ve done exactly what we’ve asked them to do,” Schwallie said. “We served well, and we’ve played defense very well. We play 11 players, so we don’t have one superstar on our team, we play 11 deep and everybody plays their role.”
Fakatoumafi had three consecutive kills in the first set, which helped Silverado take a 16-5 lead.
The second set was more of the same with Rainey and Fakatoumafi attacking the net. The Skyhawks scored 10 straight points in the final set to cruise to the win.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
