SUNRISE VOLLEYBALL: Foothill’s dominance of Liberty continues

Foothill's girls volleyball team had swept Liberty the last six times the teams met prior to Tuesday's region quarterfinal.

The outcome for match No. 7 was no different, but the Falcons weren't able to cruise this time around.

After overcoming a nine-point deficit in the first set, Foothill regrouped for a 25-20, 25-20, 25-11 win over the visiting Patriots in the opening round of the Sunrise Region tournament.

Foothill (14-23) will host Silverado (11-7) at 7 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals.

"We were prepared for the best out of Liberty," said Foothill interim coach Chad Ortiz. "They demonstrated that early and put a lot of pressure on our kids. We only have one returning starter from last year, so none of them have any playoff experience. And we could see it. It took us that first set to settle down."

Liberty put the heat on Foothill early in that first set. Sophomore middle blocker Alexandra Farnsworth served five straight points to give the Patriots a 14-5 lead and forced the Falcons to call an early timeout.

After Farnsworth hit a service error and was substituted out, Foothill scored the next four points to pull within 14-10 and eventually grabbed the lead on an ace by McKenzie Youngman to make it 17-16.

The Falcons went on to take the set, 25-20, on a net miscue by Liberty.

"We train to be in that situation. We hope we don't get in those situations, ideally, but there's a reason we train to play out of (big deficits)," Ortiz said. "We do the best we can to keep them focused. I didn't need to remind them that we were down by nine."

In the second set, the Falcons took a different route out of the gates. After alternating the first four points with the Patriots, Foothill scored the next seven points to take a commanding 9-2 lead.

But Liberty never rolled over, thanks to Tiffany Watkins' active play at the net. The Patriots pulled within three points twice — at 18-15 and 23-20 — but couldn't get any closer because of Foothill's front line of Tessa Michalosky and Alyssa McCoy.

Michalosky finished with eight kills and three blocks, and McCoy had five blocks for the Falcons.

"They set the tempo for how we play overall," Ortiz said. "Tessa is the only returning starter. She does have that experience. Alyssa has been a blocking machine this season. She's also kind of our pep leader out there."

Kiley McCall had 28 assists, and Aysia Mabry added 12 kills, three aces and seven digs for Foothill.

Mabry was the biggest beneficiary of McCall's play, particularly in the runaway third set. Mabry put down eight of her 12 kills in that set as the Falcons went on for a 25-11 win.

"She's supposed to be a back-row player for us," Ortiz said of Mabry. "We kind of struggled with our other outside, so we were able to get her out there. We couldn't take her off the court. She was building momentum each set and was able to find those openings and use her strengths as a left-handed hitter."

Foothill opened the third set on an 8-1 run and won the match on a monster kill by McCoy.

After it fell behind two sets, Liberty appeared to be deflated in the third.

"That's kind of been the story all year," Liberty coach Brandon Kersting said. "I don't know if my girls get flustered or down when they lose the first two, but it's tough for them to come back. … In the beginning, it was going good. We were on and playing as a team. But they just started getting down and everything went haywire after that."

Whitley Brow had seven kills, and Dana Bower added 13 digs for the Falcons.

Watkins led Liberty (16-15) with six kills and seven digs.

Maggie Helm added three kills and three aces, and Pualani Tuika put down three kills for the Patriots, who also got 10 digs from Elizabeth Branigan.

Silverado 3, Rancho 1 — At Silverado, Sydney Berenyi notched 25 kills and 15 digs,and Emma Wenthe had 26 digs as the Skyhawks beat the Rams, 25-19, 25-17, 21-25, 25-15.

Tehani Faitau had 38 assists and eight digs, and Mariah Morris added 10 kills and six digs for Silverado.

Karime Raygoza had 20 digs, 12 kills and four aces to lead Rancho (15-19). Serenity Sivongsa had 16 assists, 15 digs and four aces for the Rams, and teammate Kayla Coles supplied 10 digs, nine kills and two aces.

Green Valley 3, Las Vegas 0 — At Las Vegas, Carlee Becker had 25 assists in the Gators' 25-19, 25-13, 25-14 win over the Wildcats.

Rachel Klopfer added 17 kills and seven digs, and teammate Maya Hill supplied eight kills and three digs for Green Valley (16-16), which plays Coronado (27-10) in the semifinals at 5 p.m. on Thursday at Foothill.

Lexia Brockett had 14 assists and 10 digs to lead Las Vegas (13-16).

Kaila Barney notched nine digs, and teammate Tajanae Davis contributed seven kills for the Wildcats.

Coronado 3, Canyon Springs 0 — At Coronado, Olivia Keller had seven kills as the Cougars rolled past the Pioneers.

Cali Thompson added 24 assists and five aces for Coronado, and teammate Taylor England had seven digs.