SUNSET REGION: Frischknecht, Stratton lift Bulldogs to title game

Blake Frischknecht did most of the heavy lifting Thursday for the Centennial boys volleyball team. But it was Hunter Stratton that got the Bulldogs over the finish line.

Frischknecht finished with 26 kills, and Stratton added seven of his 22 kills in the final set to help the Bulldogs beat Shadow Ridge 25-27, 26-24, 25-23, 25-16 in the Sunset Region tournament at Green Valley.

Centennial (17-2), the Southwest League champion, meets Northwest No. 1 seed Palo Verde (18-3) in the final at 7 p.m. Friday at Green Valley. Both teams advance to the Division I state tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday at Chaparral.

“He came up huge,” Frischknecht said of Stratton, who had a .462 hitting percentage in the final set. “Once I started feeling it they committed to me and that left him a single (block), and he took advantage.”

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 20-13 lead in the fourth set as Stratton had four of his kills, and his tip gave Centennial (17-2) match point. Frischknecht then teamed with Terrell Hicks to block Richard Sterling for the final point.

However, the turning point of the match came in the third set. The defending region champion Mustangs (14-5) led 16-13 after a kill by Quinn Peterson when Frischknecht answered with a kill of his own. That also put the serve in the hands of the senior, and Centennial scored the next four points to go up, 18-16. Frischknecht’s tip closed out the third set after Shadow Ridge fought off two set points.

“That broke their back,” Frischknecht said. “They had the lead and all the momentum, and when we took it away from them they didn’t fight back. That showed in the fourth game.”

Sterling had 17 kills, Peterson added 16 kills and Jalen Makaiwi had 45 assists for Shadow Ridge.

Palo Verde 3, Legacy 0 — E.J. Vanderstelt had 12 kills, including three late in the second set, and Brigham Clawson added 11 kills as the Panthers topped the Longhorns, 25-19, 25-21, 25-21 to reach the region final for the second straight year.

“Our balance is our strength this year,” Palo Verde coach Phil Clarke said. “We’ve been kind of feeding whoever is hot at the time.”

Legacy (18-6) got off to a slow start in the first set and fell behind 10-1 in the third set. The Longhorns fought back to within 21-19 in the third, but Vanderstelt had two kills to help finish off the match.

Tanner Compton led Legacy with 15 kills, six digs and three blocks, and twin brother Trent Compton added eight kills and 13 digs. Braden Liu finished with 31 assists and seven digs, and Antoine Tilmon pitched in with five kills and three blocks for the Longhorns.

“I felt like it came down to execution on our part,” Legacy coach Ray Lewis said. “We started the first set and the third set in similar fashion. Once you get down that much, it’s hard clawing your way back the whole time.