Trailblazers snap to attention

When Shadow Ridge's Kelsey Tesoro stuffed Hayley Spelman near the end of the first game, it gave the visiting Mustangs much-needed momentum in their Class 4A Sunset Region quarterfinal.

However, it also awakened Durango's 6-foot-6-inch opposite hitter.

"It took that block for me to say, 'OK, let's go,' " Spelman said. "When she blocked me, I knew, 'Hey, that shouldn't happen. Let's step it up.' I knew it was my fault."

Behind a charged-up Spelman, the Trailblazers went on to a relatively easy 25-19, 25-18, 25-14 win over Shadow Ridge to advance to the regional semifinals. Durango (23-11), the No. 2 seed from the Southwest League, will play at Northwest top seed Centennial (27-2) at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

"They played collectively very well against a very good Shadow Ridge team," Trailblazers coach Kelly O'Quinn said. "It was a really good team effort. Usually it's the Hayley Spelman show."

Spelman, a Stanford recruit, did most of the damage for Durango with 34 kills. Setter Morgan Malone had 32 assists.

Shadow Ridge (17-8) was led by Kylee Schraft's 10 kills, and Tesoro added six kills and 10 digs. Setter Brittany Meyer dished out 22 assists.

"We didn't play our best and we would've needed to play our best to beat them," Mustangs coach Karissa Guthrie said. "For one of the first times this season (our defense) broke down."

• Centennial 3, Sierra Vista 0 -- At Centennial, Morgan Vieira had 13 assists, six digs and two blocks to help the Bulldogs breeze past the Mountain Lions, 25-15, 25-17, 25-13.

Johnna Brown added 15 kills and nine digs for Centennial, the Northwest League champion. Hillary O'Shaughnessy had seven blocks, four aces, three kills and three digs.

• Palo Verde 3, Pahrump Valley 1 -- At Palo Verde, Nicole Gneiting's 20 kills, seven digs and four blocks helped the Panthers to a 25-22, 25-12, 23-25, 25-15 win over the Trojans.

Tori Lounsberry had 27 assists and six digs for Palo Verde, which will face Southwest champion Bishop Gorman in a regional semifinal at 6 p.m. Thursday at Centennial.

Kristi Daffer led Pahrump Valley with 15 kills and seven blocks.

• Bishop Gorman 3, Legacy 0 -- At Gorman, Liz Manthei had 15 assists, six kills and four aces as the Gaels routed the Longhorns, 25-8, 25-8, 25-9.

Kylie Shaw had nine kills for Gorman, and Liz Lisowski added nine digs and three aces.

SUNRISE REGION

• Del Sol 3, Rancho 0 -- At Rancho, Kadie Miller had 21 assists to help the Dragons beat the Northeast champion Rams in the quarterfinals.

Karie Miller added nine kills and four digs, and Gaby Luebke had seven kills and four blocks for Del Sol, which finished fourth in the Southeast.

Aisha Momodu led Rancho with six kills and five blocks.

Del Sol will face Silverado in a regional semifinal at 4:15 p.m. Thursday at Centennial.

• Silverado 3, Valley 0 -- At Silverado, Marilyn Agae had 22 assists as defending state champion Silverado downed the Vikings, 25-11, 25-9, 25-14.

Taylor Richard added nine kills and Patti Flagg had five. Jessica Witt served four aces.

• Coronado 3, Eldorado 0 -- At Eldorado, Kuulei Piena had eight kills and four aces to help the Cougars upset the Sundevils, 25-14, 25-12, 25-18.

Katie Gamsky had 27 assists for Coronado. Kristen Herlosky (eight kills), Alexa Herlosky (seven) helped the Cougars, the No. 3 seed out of the Southeast.

Eldorado's Sarah Childs had seven kills and three blocks.

Coronado will play Green Valley in the semifinals at 7:45 p.m. Thursday at Centennial.

• Green Valley 3, Las Vegas 0 -- At Green Valley, Jena Chavez had 30 assists and two aces as Southeast champion Green Valley eliminated the Wildcats, 25-11, 25-16, 25-20.

Siga Appelgate had 12 kills and Sydney Brozovich 11 for Green Valley.