Bishop Gorman breezes past Legacy into semifinals

Jummel Hidrosollo / Special to the Home News

Bishop Gorman’s Dannielle Diamant spikes the ball over the net against Legacy High School during the Sunset Regional quarterfinals at Bishop Gorman High School on Monday

By Christopher Drexel (contact)

Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008 | midnight

Jummel Hidrosollo / Special to the Home News

Bishop Gorman's Alexis Sanchez bumps the ball during the Sunset Regional quarterfinal against Legacy High School on November 3 at Bishop Gorman High School.

Jummel Hidrosollo / Special to the Home News

Bishop Gorman's Liz Lisowski serves the ball to the opponent Legacy High School during the Sunset region quarterfinals at Bishop Gorman High School on Monday.

Playoff games aren't supposed to be this easy.

Bishop Gorman's girls volleyball team made its opening match of the Sunset Regional tournament look more like a scrimmage against the junior varsity than a postseason contest, as it cruised to a 25-8, 25-8, 25-9 home win against Legacy on Monday.

"We played Legacy earlier in the year and the scores were close to tonight, so we expected to do well," Gorman coach Ed Van Meetren said. "We got a little sloppy at times because we weren't really challenged but we got all the kids in to get the first-game jitters out."

Gorman moves on to face Palo Verde in the Sunset Regional semifinals Thursday at Centennial. The two teams have not met this season but Palo Verde eliminated Gorman in the first round of the region tournament a year ago.

And both schools have players who compete together during club volleyball.

Gaels middle blocker Danielle Diamant said the team is eager to get some revenge against the Panthers.

"Oh yeah, definitely," Diamant said. "The people returning from last year remember the feeling we had. We want to get to state, so coming back and beating Palo has definitely been one of our main goals."

Gorman dominated from the outset against Legacy. The Gaels opened the first game by scoring the initial nine points. After Legacy made the score 13-5, Gorman closed the game out with a 12-3 run.

In the second game, Legacy took an early 3-1 lead before the Gaels scored 10 straight to put the game out of reach. The final game began with both teams tied 4-4 before Gorman went on a 14-2 run, wrapping up the match.

Kylie Shaw led the Gaels with nine kills. Liz Manthei chipped in 15 assists, six kills and four aces. Diamant had five kills and six blocks, while libero Liz Lisowski registered nine digs.

Lisowski said the dominating win should give the Gaels momentum.

"It will push us to go stronger and better next game," Lisowski said. "The past two years we haven't won past the first regional game. So I think this will really show our team we belong in the winner's bracket."

Palo Verde won its opening round playoff game by dispatching Pahrump Valley 25-22, 25-12, 23-25, 25-15. Nicole Gneiting led the Panthers with 20 kills, seven digs and four blocks. Tianna Gadbaw had 13 digs, five blocks and eight kills, while Tori Lounsbery had 27 assists and six digs.

"The girls came out really strong, we were intense the whole match," Palo Verde coach Greg Siqueiros said. "Our outside hitters really came through for us. But what won us the game was our defense."

Centennial, the top seed from the Northwest Division, easily dispatched of Sierra Vista in its opening round match, 25-15, 25-17, 25-13. Johnna Brown led the way with 15 kills and nine digs. Morgan Vieira had 13 assists and six digs and Hillary O'Shaughnessy had seven blocks and four aces.

"Overall, we played OK," Centennial coach Shannon Alia said. "We came out a little nervous. We were making mistakes we don't normally make. But I called timeout and they re-focused, stepped up and got the momentum."

The Bulldogs will face Durango, the team that eliminated them in the Sunset Region championship match in five games a year ago, on Thursday. Centennial will host both the region semifinals and final, to be played Friday.

Christopher Drexel can be reached at 990-8929 or christopher.drexel@hbcpub.com.