I-A VOLLEYBALL: Virgin Valley outlasts Spring Valley

Lori Barnum always stresses practicing hard to her players because they never know when a similar situation might present itself in a match.

The Virgin Valley girls volleyball coach saw her teaching pay off Tuesday in the opening round of the Division I-A Southern Region playoffs.

With both teams visibly worn down, junior Kaydee Bingham sent the ball past the outstretched arms of two Spring Valley defenders in a decisive fifth set as the Bulldogs outlasted the Grizzlies, 27-25, 19-25, 25-20, 29-31, 16-14 at Sunrise Mountain.

“I’m not a big believer so much in conditioning,” Barnum said. “I figure if we practice hard, we’ll play hard. And we go all-out in practice. They’ve just worked really hard.”

Virgin Valley took the first set 27-25 before the Grizzlies answered in the second. The teams fought neck-and-neck all night, alternating the next two sets to send it to a crucial fifth set.

After losing the fourth set, which featured 16 ties, Barnum delivered a simple message to her players.

“I told them to just come out and play and have some fun,” Barnum said. “I told them we know how to win. We’ve done it before and we’ve come from behind, so ‘Let’s just do it.’ ”

The Bulldogs, who were playing in their fourth five-set match of the season, stormed out to a 13-8 lead, but then surrendered a 6-1 run by the Grizzlies to knot it up at 14-14. It was the fifth tie in the set alone.

But Virgin Valley scored the next two points on a Spring Valley error and then Bingham’s kill.

“She did a great job,” Barnum said of Bingham, who finished with five kills and six digs. “Both of our outsides also did a great job. Our setter needed a minute to warm up and she did a great job too. I thought it was a collective effort.”

Janella Fiso had 43 assists, 13 digs and five aces, and Bernice Fiso added 26 kills, 15 digs and two aces for the Bulldogs, who got 14 kills and seven digs from Emma Barnum.

Jessica Rafay led Spring Valley with 17 kills, six blocks and three aces. Danielle Amonica had 12 kills, and two blocks, and teammate Casey Van Hoose added 11 kills for the Grizzlies (14-8).

“I came down and scouted a couple of games they played,” Barnum said. “We knew that (Rafay) was good. We knew what we were getting into.”

Virgin Valley (19-11) faces Faith Lutheran (24-13) in a region semifinal at 7 p.m. Thursday at Sunrise Mountain.

Sierra Vista 3, Moapa Valley 0 — Senior Bailey Bergquist had nine kills, 15 digs and two aces to lead the Mountain Lions to a 25-11, 25-13, 25-15 sweep of the Pirates.

Sydney Land notched eight kills and three blocks for Sierra Vista, which got seven kills, and nine digs from Bridgette Levi. The Mountain Lions (20-9) will meet Boulder City (24-8) in a region semifinal at 5:15 p.m. Thursday at Sunrise Mountain.

Moapa Valley’s Cheyenne Leavitt had 13 digs, and Marissa Perez added 11 digs and two aces for the Pirates (15-13).

Boulder City 3, Pahrump Valley 0 — Lauren Pocius had 14 kills and five aces to help the Eagles to a 25-21, 25-22, 25-22 sweep of the Trojans.

Freshman Maggie Roe recorded 10 kills and two blocks, and Alyssa Ybarra added 38 digs for Boulder City.

Shayla Dance had six kills, and Jill Smith added 12 assists for the Trojans (15-18).

Faith Lutheran 3, Tech 0 – Megan Kronschnabel had 26 assists and five aces, and Cayla Nikodemus added 12 kills as the Crusaders cruised to a 25-7, 25-2, 25-7 victory over the Roadrunners.

Bobbi Tharaldson served six aces, and Morgan Hill and Jordyn Dunseath each added five kills for Faith Lutheran.

Samantha Backman had two kills, three digs and one ace for Tech (9-9), and teammate Ashlee Hare added 10 digs.