loaing Sierra Canyon does well in Las Vegas
By Jacob H. Pollon
The Sierra Canyon girls volleyball team is showing no signs of slowing down.
The Trailblazers came into the Durango (Nevada) tournament on a roll and continued their all-season success with a very good third-place finish after losing in three sets to national power Mater Dei.
Sierra Canyon led the Monarchs 25-20 and was up 22-19 in the second set before losing the final six points. The letdown seeped into the third set and Mater Dei advanced to the final with a 25-11 victory.
” We were so close,” Sierra Canyon coach Stefanie Wigfall said. “We may have got ahead of ourselves thinking about how close we were to the finals. It was a great weekend. We learn from this and get ready for the playoffs.”
The Trailblazers (22-4) had won 12 consecutive best-of-5 matches heading to Vegas and then won five consecutive best-of-3 matches before facing Mater Dei.
Sierra Canyon knocked off Faith Lutheran of Nevada 15 and 16, Maple Mountain of Utah 21 and 19 and La Costa Canyon of Carlsbad (Calif.) 17 and 11 in pool-play.
The Gold national bracket saw the Trailblazers take down Archbishop Mitty of San Jose (Calif.) 21 and 27 and nationally ranked No. 2 Cornerstone Christian (Texas) 20 and 23 before Mater Dei in the semifinals.
The win against Cornerstone Christian avenged an earlier three-set setback from Hawaii in the Ann Kang Invitational.
“We did some really good things over the trip,” Wigfall said. “We played well, we beat a team we lost to before. I like where we are at and getting better.”
Long Beach Poly-transfer Halie McGinest had 35 kills, 12 blocks, 19 digs and six aces over the six matches.
Boston College-bound Danica Rach had 31 kills, 26 digs, nine blocks and seven aces.
Hawaii-bound Maddie Way had 18 kills 17 blocks and five aces.
George Washington-bound Taylor Treahy had 16 kills, six blocks and six digs.
San Diego-commit junior libero Lauren Lynch had 60 digs and 10 aces.
Sade Ilawole had 128 assists, 17 digs and six aces.
Sierra Canyon continues its mini road tour with Mission League matches against Marlboroigh and Harvard-Westlake this week.
The Trailblazers are not at home until October 3rd.
