Injuries, sickness don’t stop Bonanza volleyball team

James Yodice

Thursday, April 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Like any other sport, it's not really how but how many.

The Bonanza boys' volleyball team, playing shorthanded the past two weeks as several of the team's best players are either injured or sick, hasn't let that stop it from climbing atop the standings in the Sunset Division.

The Bengals on Wed nesday night turned away Bishop Gorman 15-8, 15-6, 15-10 and remained undefeated at 4-0 in league play. With Cimarron-Memorial losing in three games to Cheyenne, Bonanza (15-9) moved into sole possession of first place. It has won nine of its past 12 matches.

"We're starting to get on a little bit of a roll, and this is the time to get on one," said Bonanza coach Scott Nelson.

The Gaels, minus their top player, Joe Moeller, were just a half-step off the entire match.

"They never seemed to get into their rhythm," Nelson said. "The majority of the time, I felt we did."

Senior setter Jeric Leavitt had a 38-assist night for Bonanza. Senior outside hitters Erik Davis and Rob Howie had 11 and 14 kills, respectively, and senior middle blocker Danny Jensen had eight kills despite an illness.

* ELSEWHERE IN VOLLEYBALL: Visiting Green Valley downed Las Vegas 15-2, 13-15, 15-4, 15-6. ... At Cheyenne, Marlyn McNeal had nine blocks and 16 kills, Cameron Steele had 17 kills and Ryan Christensen had eight blocks and eight kills in the Desert Shields' 15-12, 15-3, 18-16 win over the Spartans. ... Setter Brandon Barlow dished out 72 assists in Chaparral's 15-8, 15-7, 9-15, 15-11 win over Rancho. Sam Miner had 19 kills and David Mirc 12 kills for the Cowboys. ... Eldorado improved to 3-1 in the Sunrise Division with a 15-7, 15-8, 16-14 win over Vo-Tech. ... Basic downed Valley 15-11, 15-3, 15-6 in the Sunrise Division; Vikings' head coach Dave Fish was sitting out a one-match suspension after being thrown out of Valley's match on Monday against Rancho. ... Western rallied from two games down to outlast Durango in a Sunset Division match 13-15, 2-15, 15-9, 17-15, 15-13. ... Clark needed five games to hold off Silverado 15-13, 15-12, 11-15, 11-15, 15-11 in a Sunset Division match. Chris Hagenbeek had 21 kills and Jared Jennings 18 kills for the Chargers.

* WHAT'S THE SCORE? Everyone can agree that high school baseball has a finite number of regulation innings -- seven. But not everyone at Western on Tuesday afternoon could agree how many innings should be played. Cimarron-Memorial's players celebrated after the bottom of the seventh when they thought they had clinched a 6-5 victory over the Warriors in a Sunset Division game. Simple enough, right? Uh-uh. The game was not over. Although Cimarron coach Calvin Valvo was positive the Spartans had won, Western argued that the score of the game was incorrect. The Warriors argued that the score was 6-6, necessitating extra innings. Valvo said Western mistakenly counted a run earlier in the game that never scored. But because Western was the home team the umpires had to defer to the home team's book. Valvo's response was to play the game under protest. But Cimarron rendered its coach's protest moot when the Spartans plated two runners in the eighth for an 8-5 win. That is how Cimarron is going to record the game. But Western will record it as an 8-6 loss. Go figure.

* TRACK AND FIELD: Cheyenne's Tony Newson and David Presley each won two events in the Desert Shields' meet victory over Silverado, The Meadows, Laughlin and Faith Lutheran. Cheyenne beat Silverado by a 232-97 count. Newson won the long jump and triple jump, Presley the 100 and 300 hurdles. The girls' meet went to Cheyenne, which outpointed Silverado 173-126. Jessica Rafferty captured the 400 and 100 hurdles for the Desert Shields.

* BOYS' GOLF: Chaparral, with one of its best scores this season, upset Valley 248-250 in a match at the Las Vegas Hilton Country Club. The medalist was Mike Milne, who shot 42 for the Cowboys. Mojave shot 269.

* REMINDER: Coaches in all spring sports are asked to phone in their results to the SUN by 10 p.m. the day of competition. The number is 259-4085.