Shadow Ridge stays hot, rolls in girls volleyball

Ashley Smith sensed Shadow Ridge's girls volleyball team building momentum near the end of the regular season.

The sophomore outside hitter made sure the Mustangs brought that momentum with them into the postseason.

Smith had 27 kills and 16 digs to lead Shadow Ridge to a 27-25, 25-27, 25-17, 25-16 victory over Bonanza in the quarterfinals of the Division I Sunset Region tournament Tuesday at Legacy.

"We've been working in practice so hard, and we knew that (Bonanza) would come in strong," said Smith, whose team has won eight of its past nine matches. "We knew that they would bring it, and we brought it to them, too."

Shadow Ridge (21-13) will meet Bishop Gorman (22-9) in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Thursday at Green Valley.

The Mustangs blew a 17-9 lead in the second set, as Bonanza used a kill from Sam Katschke and an ace by Ellyn Hirabayashi to score the final two points and tie the match 1-1.

But Shadow Ridge wasn't threatened in the third or fourth sets, and the match fittingly ended with a Smith kill.

"I told my girls, we can prepare all we want for Bonanza, (but) if we're not taking care of the ball on our side of the court, then we're not going to be successful," Mustangs coach Karissa Guthrie said. "We started taking care of the ball on our side of the court and limiting those unforced errors."

Olivia Denny had 40 assists, Jasmine Burton had 22 digs, and Caitlin Pascal recorded six kills for the Mustangs.

Rykki Rudd led Bonanza (16-13) with 13 kills and three blocks. Hayley Huntsman had 12 assists and five aces for the Bengals, who got 10 digs from Hirabayashi.

■ Centennial 3, Sierra Vista 0 - Kristi Farley had 24 assists and three aces as the Bulldogs (18-14) rolled to a 25-13, 25-18, 25-20 sweep.

Centennial will meet Palo Verde (22-8) in a region semifinal at 3:40 p.m. Thursday at Green Valley.

Tiana Bonds had 11 kills for Centennial, and Raquari Gilliam and Talia Barnes each added six kills.

Shelby Stiles led Sierra Vista (13-12) with 13 assists and six digs, and Bridgette Levi had seven kills.

■ Bishop Gorman 3, Arbor View 0 - Emma Kirst had nine kills as the Gaels cruised to a 25-16, 25-13, 25-10 sweep.

Emma Filosi had 23 assists for Gorman, which got five kills from Gianna Ruggeroli.

Kayla Papuga led the Aggies (13-19) with seven kills and two aces, and Tara Wiese had 10 assists for Arbor View.

■ Palo Verde 3, Desert Oasis 0 - Stephanie Herman had 33 assists and five aces to lead the Panthers to a 25-10, 25-10, 25-14 sweep of the Diamondbacks (13-15).

Kendall Cheval had 11 kills, three aces and four digs for the Panthers, and McCall Phillips had seven kills and three digs.

Tianna Jefferson paced Desert Oasis with two kills, four digs and five assists.

SUNRISE REGION

■ Silverado 3, Basic 2 - The Skyhawks fell behind early but recovered with the help of Kayla Agae's 16 kills, five blocks and two aces to rally past the Wolves, 20-25, 25-21, 25-16, 23-25, 15-12.

"We were trying something different tonight," said Silverado coach Kahealani Roston, who played several players out of position for the first four sets. "I knew we were being looked at, so I needed to do something different because I knew what they would be expecting us to do."

Basic (14-16) was not fooled in the first set, as senior middle hitter Leah Causey took over early to lead her team to a relatively easy win.

"We started off with the jitters," Agae said. "But once we got that out of our system, we did really well."

After Silverado took a 2-1 lead, the Wolves battled back with a late rally in the fourth, thanks largely to Causey, who finished with 18 kills and three aces.

Roston opted to go back to her traditional lineup in the final set, a move that worked.

Lauren Purdy helped Silverado with eight kills, and teammate Amari Norris added five kills and four blocks.

Victoria Foutz helped Basic with 13 kills and two blocks.

Silverado plays Coronado in the semifinals at 5:20 p.m. Thursday.

■ Foothill 3, Las Vegas 0 - Zoe Wolfenbarger had 19 kills and 14 assists to help the Falcons (21-13) roll to a 25-20, 31-29, 25-21 victory over the Wildcats (11-19).

Samantha Douglas had 22 assists, seven kills and three aces to help Foothill, and teammate Rebecca Hill added eight kills and four blocks.

Marissa Lair had 12 kills, Matti Ventling 24 assists and Anjelica Ashworth 15 digs for Las Vegas.

Foothill plays Green Valley in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Thursday.

■ Coronado 3, Rancho 0 - Carolyn Andrulis had 11 digs and 10 kills to help the Cougars cruise past the Rams, 25-10, 25-12, 25-12.

Cali Thompson helped Coronado (23-8) with 23 assists and three aces.

Danielle Carino and Kayla Coles had nine digs apiece to lead Rancho (13-18).

■ Green Valley 3, Liberty 0 - Carly Schiess and Bridgette Dwyer each had 11 kills to lift the Gators, 25-11, 25-11, 25-12.

Nikki Drost added 10 kills and two aces for Green Valley (30-4).

Jazmin O'Bannon and Carina Gargantos each had two kills and two blocks for the Patriots (4-17).

DIVISION I-A SOUTHERN

■ Faith Lutheran 3, Sunrise Mountain 0 - At Chaparral, the Crusaders took only 47 minutes to defeat the Miners 25-5, 25-6, 25-10 in the opening round of the Division I-A Southern Region tournament.

Faith Lutheran (28-9) will face Moapa Valley in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Thursday. Chaparral plays Boulder City in the other semifinal at 5:15 p.m.

"We were really prepared for this match," Crusaders coach Amy Fisher said. "We've played in some tough matches recently, and I think that helped us get ready for this tournament."

Taylor Hammer had 11 kills and three blocks for Faith Lutheran, and Taylor Richards added seven kills and four aces. Sam Leonard had six kills, four aces and two blocks, and Gianni Perryman finished with 25 assists for the Crusaders.

Tania Amaya had four kills and a block for the Miners (9-10).

■ Chaparral 3, Pahrump Valley 0 - Jaeda Allen had 24 kills and three aces as the host Cowboys (25-12) downed the Trojans, 25-11, 25-22, 25-21.

Katie Oliveira had 37 assists for Chaparral (25-12), and teammate Rita Mesa-Mola had eight kills and two blocks.

Bryanna Soliwoda had seven assists for the Trojans (14-15).

■ Moapa Valley 3, Clark 1 - The Pirates rebounded from a wild third-set loss to upend the Chargers, 25-11, 25-20, 37-39, 25-22.

Clark erased a 9-3 deficit in the third set to make things interesting.

But Moapa Valley (22-9) regained its composure and raced to a 10-5 lead in the decisive set en route to the victory.

Summer Owens and Bailey Owens combined for 19 kills to lead the Pirates, and Tabitha Witsken added 11 digs. Kimberly Lewis had 39 assists for Moapa Valley.

Emi Atanoa led the Chargers (10-12) with nine kills and two blocks, and June Roberts added seven kills.

■ Boulder City 3, Cheyenne 0 - Whitney Barlow had 10 kills as the Eagles downed the Desert Shields, 25-7, 25-5, 25-17.

Eliza Jeppsen had nine kills for Boulder City (28-7), and teammate Avalon Frantz had 27 assists and nine aces.

Jasmine Spurlock had two aces for Cheyenne (5-11).