Basic finishes perfect season with state title

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, May 16, 2002 | 9:13 a.m.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect season.

The Basic Wolves captured the NIAA/U.S. Bank 4-A state volleyball championship with a convincing 15-5, 17-15, 10-15, 15-5 victory over defending state champion Chaparral on Wednesday night at Chaparral High School. And although the Wolves finished the season with an unblemished 25-0 record, it was the state championship trophy that carried the most significance for Joan Cinkovich's squad.

"I'm still in shock right now," senior outside hitter Shaun Muaina said. "I really didn't care if we went undefeated. It's nice. But as long as we won (the title) is all that really matters."

"We just took it one match at a time," Cinkovich said. "It just got up to be 10-0 and then 11-0. Then at the end we really didn't think about a loss. We just wanted to win this match and that's all that really mattered."

Behind the one-two spiking punch of the BYU-bound Muaina (22 kills, 8 blocks) and 6-4 senior middle blocker Richard Espinoza (24 kills, 12 blocks), the Wolves roared to a quick 8-0 lead in the first game en route to a 15-5 victory.

Chaparral rebounded to take a 10-3 lead in the second game before Basic rallied to tie it, 12-12. Still, the Cowboys (22-3) came back to lead, 15-14, and twice served with a chance for the victory. But Basic held on and then pulled out a 17-15 victory in what was the turning point of the match.

"That's been our attitude ... refuse to lose," Cinkovich said. "I think when we fell behind like that, our team took it as a challenge."

"That could have been the turning point," the high-flying Muaina said. "Who knows what would have happened if we hadn't come back to win that game?"

Indeed, that comeback win in game two took on even more meaning when the Cowboys took the third game, 15-10.

But Basic jumped to a quick 5-1 lead in the fourth game and was never really threatened after that en route to a match-clinching 15-5 win.

"I was afraid after we lost that second game that we were done because we blew that great big lead," Chaparral coach Jerry Huston said. "But our kids showed a lot of heart and bounced back to win that third game."

Besides Muaina and Espinoza, Basic also got big games from senior setter Chris Stolworthy (60 assists) and opposite hitter Joey Byington.

Chaparral was led by seniors David Gerrard (30 kills, 4 blocks) and Greg Rhodes (12 blocks) and junior setter Chris Golightly (46 assists).