DIVISION I VOLLEYBALL: Simister key as Palo Verde takes title

The Most Valuable Player chants for Palo Verde senior Michael Simister began pouring in from more than 200 Panther students prior to the first serve on Wednesday.

Simister, a senior, didn’t disappoint on the biggest stage.

Simister had 24 kills, four aces and four blocks to lead the Panthers to a 25-21, 25-10, 25-15 sweep over Legacy in the Division I boys state volleyball championship at Las Vegas High. It was Palo Verde’s first state title since 2009.

“This is definitely one of the biggest moments of my life,” Simister said. “I’ll never forget it. This has been our goal since we lost to Shadow Ridge (in the Sunset Region semifinals) last year. The very next day, we were in the gym putting in work. We’ve been waiting for this moment. It’s been my dream since I started playing volleyball.”

Simister started the match with a monster kill off an assist from Cole Willson. After Legacy fought back to tie the score at 20, the Panthers (32-11) went on a 5-1 run to take the first set.

Simister scored three of those five points on kills, and finished the set with nine kills, a block and an ace.

“That’s a hell of a way to start off the state championship game,” Palo Verde coach Phil Clarke said. “He’s one of our seniors; one of our captains. He came out on a mission.”

Legacy (19-7) didn’t help itself, either, finishing the first set with six service errors.

“Nerves got the best of us,” Longhorns coach Ray Lewis said. “We saw it in the semifinals last night. We played cautious, tentative. And that kind of hurt us today. That five-set match shook our confidence a little bit.”

In the second set, Palo Verde grabbed a 7-0 lead before easily pulling away. Simister had four of the Panthers’ final five points.

“He was just on fire,” said Willson, who had 38 assists, eight digs and two blocks. “He was so focused and dialed in from the beginning. He never messed up. He maybe had one error. It was ridiculous.”

Palo Verde quickly took the final set, prompting its fans to rush the court.

“Everybody just stepped up,” said senior Parker Nelson, who finished with nine kills and three blocks. “All the sophomores, all the juniors, the returners. Last year, we had a lot of talent but we didn’t have the ball control we have this year. That was a huge factor. We just wanted to prove everyone wrong, and I think we did it.”

Zaire Franklin led Legacy with 11 kills and eight digs. Anthony Madden had six kills and six digs, Anthony Delgado added 28 assists and 13 digs and Anthony Guevara contributed seven kills and eight digs for Legacy, which lost for the third time in four matches this season against Palo Verde.

“We graduated six seniors last year and four of them were really key players for us,” Lewis said. “These kids worked their butts off, every day, to get back here. They earned it. It sucks that we lost in the fashion we did, but they played hard all season to get here.”

Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow him on Twitter: @af_ferguson.