Cimarron grit makes it tough for Sierra Vista

Nick Christensen

Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004 | 9:17 a.m.

After one game Wednesday against Cimarron-Memorial, it looked as if Sierra Vista's girls' volleyball team was going to have a cakewalk to the next round of the 4A Sunset Region quarterfinals at Coronado High School.

The Mountain Lions outscored Cimarron 25-9 in the first game, including a 15-3 run to start things off. But it wasn't too long before Cimarron was thinking comeback and starting to pull it off.

The Spartans, the Northwest's third seed, took early leads and hung with Sierra Vista through the second and third games, but just didn't have enough to get past the first-game letdown as the Mountain Lions advanced 25-9, 25-23, 25-21.

Sierra Vista coach Camille McComas, who coached the Mountain Lions boys to the state title earlier this year, picked perfect times to call timeouts, and her team responded accordingly. Down 5-8 in the second game, the Lions got right back into it.

Again down 3-8 in the third game, Sierra Vista pulled to within three at 10-13 and tied the game at 19, never looking back once they passed 21.

"I think they were very focused," McComas said. "They just got a little momentum our way getting started. They were much more competitive. They made good adjustments."

Sierra Vista's Rachael Clineman had 14 kills, and Nina Manchez added three blocks to help carry their team to today's semifinals match against Northwest top seed Palo Verde, which defeated Clark 25-15, 25-9, 25-18 later Wednesday.

Tiana Vergara had eight kills and five blocks, and Jenny Sutko had 10 digs to lead Cimarron.

Southwest top seed Bishop Gorman played from the same script as Sierra Vista. After defeating Shadow Ridge 25-5 in the first game, the Gaels had to fight for 25-20 and 25-14 wins to advance to the semifinal around.

"We were a little flat but it was OK," Gorman coach Ed VanMeetren said. "You're first-time flying -- anxiety gets you from waiting all day long to play, and you get the adrenaline rush, but we settled in and I thought we played pretty steady the third game."

Ashley Olson's 26 assists and three aces led the Gaels, but it was Carly Babin's 11 kills, three aces and two blocks that scared Centennial coach David Fish.

"She's a phenomenal player," Fish said. "We'll have trouble stopping her there. We'll have to play mistake free or we're going to be in a lot of trouble. We can't give them free points."

Centennial advanced to play the Gaels today after they ousted defending state champion Durango in four games, 25-16, 20-25, 25-22 and 25-18. The margin that was too close for comfort for Fish.

"We kind of pulled away in the first game after 15-all," Fish said. "We had trouble serving in the second game. They picked up the second game, and the third game was a seesaw battle at the end.

"We played our best game in the fourth and final."

The Bulldogs' Jessika Wetzler had 19 assist and six aces, and Mallory Kurtz added 13 assists and 14 kills.

Both the Sunrise and Sunset region semifinals are today at Coronado.

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