Gaels strong at finish in edging Centennial

Bishop Gorman's girls volleyball team hadn't played a five-game match all season.

So when Centennial pushed the Gaels to a decisive fifth game in a Class 4A Sunset Region semifinal Thursday, Gorman coach Ed Van Meetren wasn't sure how his team would respond.

He has no doubts left.

Gorman finished strong in a 25-17, 17-25, 25-20, 19-25, 15-11 win at Durango to reach the Sunset final for the second year in a row.

"I was as proud of that as anything else because I didn't know how we were going to respond," Van Meetren said. "We showed a lot of character by finishing that fifth game."

Southwest League champion Gorman (25-3) will meet Northwest champion Palo Verde (31-6) for the Sunset title and a ticket to the state tournament at 7 p.m. today at Silverado.

The Gaels surged to a 14-9 lead in the fifth game, which ended on a kill by Shelby Devlin, who finished with six blocks and four kills.

Liz Manthei and Kylie Shaw had 15 kills apiece to lead Gorman. Kylee Chun dished out 48 assists and Larissa Silcox added five kills for the Gaels.

Morgan Vieira led Centennial (24-10) with 21 assists, 18 digs, seven blocks, five kills and three aces. Alli Tatom had 13 kills and eight blocks, Naramin Holloway 10 blocks and five kills and Tiffany Chapman 15 digs for the Bulldogs.

• Palo Verde 3, Sierra Vista 2 -- Jovana Sisovic had 27 kills, 16 digs and three blocks to help the Panthers hold on for a 25-20, 25-14, 11-25, 19-25, 15-6 win.

Tori Lounsbery had 37 assists, five blocks, five digs and three kills for Palo Verde, which jumped to an 11-4 lead in the fifth game. Ainsley Lovejoy contributed 12 digs, nine kills and four aces.

Brooke Robinson led Sierra Vista (20-6) with 24 kills. Johnie Pride had 10 kills and four blocks, Morgan Malone 40 assists and Kayla Forte 21 digs.

SUNRISE REGION

• Silverado 3, Coronado 0 -- At Silverado, Skyhawks coach Jennifer Boeddeker had reason to celebrate but instead left the court with a look of concern.

Silverado (29-6) had just swept Coronado 25-21, 25-22, 25-15 in the semifinals of the Sunrise Region tournament, but Boeddeker thought her team made things tougher than they needed to be.

"Honestly, I think we struggled," said Boeddeker, whose team will play Green Valley for the league championship at 5 p.m. today. "Coronado brought a great game."

Of particular concern to Boeddeker was the fact that her squad blew big leads in each of the first two games.

"I think when you have a big lead and you give someone momentum, it just makes the game that much harder," she said.

The Skyhawks jumped to an 11-2 edge in the first game before allowing Coronado to tie the score at 16. They hung on to win it but allowed an 11-4 lead to vanish in the second game when the Cougars rallied to tie it at 13.

Coronado jumped ahead 4-2 in the third game. But Silverado responded by scoring the next six points and dominated the rest of the way.

Kayla Agae led the Skyhawks with nine kills, and teammate Marilyn Agae had 25 assists.

Kristen Herlosky had 11 digs and nine kills to lead Coronado (21-12). Teammate Kuulei Piena added eight kills and seven digs, and Katie Gamsky dished out 20 assists and eight digs.

• Green Valley 3, Las Vegas 0 -- The Gators (28-6) rolled to a convincing 25-16, 25-13, 25-12 win over the Wildcats (20-13) in the other semifinal.

After her team looked strong in the first game, junior Emma Johnson served for 11 straight points to give Green Valley an 11-2 lead and all the momentum in Game 2.

Another early scoring spurt in the final game secured the win for the Gators, who have won all six games they have played in the tournament.

Senior Siga Appelgate finished with 17 kills to lead Green Valley. Taylor Seidler helped out with nine digs and two aces, Johnson added seven kills, and Jena Chavez had 19 assists and three digs.