SUNRISE VOLLEYBALL: Basic outlasts Las Vegas in five sets

In the eyes of Basic girls volleyball coach Robin Wood, Tuesday’s first-round match in the Sunrise Region tournament was way too close for comfort.

The Wolves, the Southeast League’s No. 3 seed rallied for an 18-25, 25-19, 24-26, 25-19, 17-15 win over Northeast No. 2 Las Vegas at Silverado, but the victory did not come quite the way Wood and her players expected.

“I didn’t think it was going to be that close,” Wood said. “We thought we were going to do better than that, but the girls came out a little timid tonight.”

Kim Austin did her part, logging five of her match-high 17 kills in the final set, but her strong performance was barely enough. In the end, it was a matter of which team would stay more focused in that final set.

“Our team made less mistakes,” Wood said. “We made more than we usually make, and that’s what we talked about in our timeouts.”

Wood’s final timeout, with the score tied at 15 in the fifth set, paid off, as the Wildcats hit the final two points into the net to provide an ending consistent with the rest of the match.

Las Vegas struck first, surviving four lead changes and using an 11-4 run to pull away in the first set.

The second set, which featured five lead changes, was decided down the stretch when the Wildcats committed five consecutive errors to allow Basic to tie the match 1-1.

Neither team led the third set by more than two points, but a late Basic error and a kill by Las Vegas’ Aileen Morales provided the winning margin.

The Wolves overcame an early fourth-set deficit before taking over with a 9-4 scoring spurt, setting the stage for Austin in the fifth.

“Kim is a senior, and she gets fired up,” Wood said. “When she gets fired up, she starts knocking them down. She’s the one player on the team who stays confident no matter what.”

With the Wildcats leading 11-10 in the final set, Austin had three consecutive kills to give her team a two-point lead. Las Vegas survived match-point at 15-14 with a Basic error, but Wood’s timeout squelched that momentum.

Azure Werner helped the Wolves (23-8) with 13 assists and 10 kills. Teammate Christina Kelley had 27 assists, eight kills and four service aces, and Kali Weires added nine kills and two blocks.

Samantha Remer led the Wildcats (13-18) with nine kills, and teammate Tajanae Davis had eight blocks and two kills.

Rancho 3, Silverado 2 — Danielle Carino had 25 kills, 19 digs and three aces help the fourth-seeded Rams (17-14) stun top-seeded Silverado, 25-20, 19-25, 25-18, 24-26, 15-8.

Karime Raygoza added 23 digs and 18 kills for Rancho, which narrowly lost the fourth set before dominating the fifth. Teammate Kayla Coles had 21 digs, seven kills and four blocks, and Serenity Sivongsa had 45 assists and 17 digs.

“These girls just have this determination,” Rancho coach Allegra Derzon said. “They’re very passionate. They’re always looking for momentum, and when they get it they run with it.”

The Skyhawks finished 13-4.

Foothill 3, Liberty 0 — Rebecca Hill had nine kills, eight digs and five aces to help the Falcons (19-10) roll to a 25-13, 25-16, 25-12 victory over the Patriots (5-12).

Christina Beaver had 23 assists and five aces to help Foothill. Teammate Tessa Michalosky had eight kills, and Olivia Stet added seven kills and five digs.

Coronado 3, Valley 0 — Emily Bender had 11 kills to help the Cougars (30-7) roll past the Vikings, 25-5, 25-5, 25-6.

Nikki Jackson (six kills), Berkeley Oblad (seven kills) and Carolyn Andrulis (seven kills) also came up big in limited playing time for Coronado, which finished with 15 services aces.

Valley finished 3-21.