Centennial to face Durango for title

Adam Candee

Wednesday, May 14, 2003 | 10:03 a.m.

It's the honored guest against the party crasher for the 4A State volleyball tournament tonight.

Undefeated Sunset Region champion Centennial earned its spot by besting Chaparral and unheralded Durango surprised Sunrise Region winner Silverado in Tuesday night's semifinals at Chaparral High School.

The championship match begins at 7 p.m. at Chaparral.

"If we play our game, with our size, we'll be able to take care of business," Centennial coach Dave Fish said.

Confidence is appropriate for the Bulldogs, who rolled through Chaparral (SR-2), 25-20, 25-17, 25-20. Centennial ran its record to 22-0 against one of the city's best teams.

The Bulldogs have five players who stand 6-foot-2 or taller, and that height advantage paid huge dividends at the net against a smaller Cowboys team.

"We blocked very well tonight," Fish said. "That really took them out of their game."

Jeff Robinson put down 19 kills for the Bulldogs, and Kevin Sagers totaled eight kills and four blocks. Daniel Wright paced the Centennial offense with 39 assists.

The 6-foot-4 senior setter also made the biggest play of the game. With the Bulldogs already ahead two games to none, Chaparral rallied behind its home crowd in the third game to take an 18-17 lead. On the next play, Wright made a huge block that spurred Centennial on an 8-2 run to close out the game and the match.

"When you need a big play, Daniel's going to come up with it," Fish said.

Durango (SS-2) made quick work of Silverado, 25-18, 25-21, 25-23, to advance to the title game. Durango, though the Southwest Division champion, is an unexpected participant in tonight's title game.

"They never thought they were going to be here," Durango coach Scott Zeidler said of his players.

At the same time, Zeidler feels his team will be prepared to slay the Centennial giant.

"We're here for a reason," Zeidler said. "We're going to go out and compete (today)."

The Blazers operated by the same method in each of Tuesday's three games: build a big early lead, allow a Silverado comeback and hang on for a win. The Blazers' stellar southpaw hitting duo of Kris Stinnett and Miles Peshlakai came through in the big moments, using their impressive jumping ability to hit over the Skyhawks' smaller blockers.

Stinnett finished with 15 kills and Peshlakai contributed 11.