Volleyball roundup: Durango rallies past Green Valley, into title match

The win pushes the top-seeded Trailblazers (31-6) into the Desert Region championship match at 5 p.m. Friday at Green Valley against defending state champion Bishop Gorman. Bailey Ulbur contributed 12 kills for Durango, while Aspen Steele had eight kills and three blocks.

Durango defeated Gorman in four sets during the regular season to help secure the No. 1 seed.

Green Valley (25-12), the No. 5 seed, got 14 kills from Hailey McKinnis, while Jade Lawrence had 20 digs and two aces.

Bishop Gorman 3, Coronado 1 — At Green Valley, Tommi Stockham had 28 kills, and Julianne Carlat 11 blocks to lift the Gaels to the championship match, 20-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-23.

Caroline Edgeworth directed the offense for Gorman (31-7) with 37 assists, while Emma Glaser added nine service aces.

Coronado (25-11) got 16 kills from Sara Arroyo and 10 from Ashli Dean. Morenike Ajayi finished with 22 digs for the Cougars.

Mountain Region

Palo Verde 3, Shadow Ridge 0 — At Desert Pines, Arien Fafard finished with 21 assists, 16 digs and seven kills to help the top-seeded Panthers reach the championship match, 25-20, 25-14, 25-15, over the fourth-seeded Mustangs.

The Panthers (30-3) also received eight kills from Alex Anderson-Smith, seven from Anais Badio and five from Haley Bringhurst in the win.

Palo Verde will meet third-seeded Rancho at 7 p.m. Friday at Green Valley for the Mountain Region title. The Panthers were pushed to the brink of defeat by the Rams in their regular-season meeting before escaping in five sets.

Rancho 3, Centennial 2 — At Desert Pines, Leah Miller had 22 kills and nine digs as the third-seeded Rams rallied to down the second-seeded Bulldogs, 25-14, 14-25, 26-28, 25-17, 15-13.

Jan Duhaylungsod dished out 25 assists, had 20 digs, six kills and served up four aces for Rancho (19-7), which also received 33 digs and eight assists from Kaille Ferguson. Angelina Robles and Gabriella Fernandez each had 12 digs for Rams, who dropped a three-set decision to Centennial in the regular season.

Chloe Geiman had 12 kills, three aces and six digs to lead the Bulldogs (22-16). Alexis Yeghiayan added 11 kills and two blocks, McCall Durkin had six kills, three aces and two blocks, while Taylor Lindell had five kills and six blocks.

Class 3A

Southern Region

Boulder City 3, SLAM Academy 0 — At Moapa Valley, Kamry Bailey had 16 kills and 11 digs, and Raegan Herr had 13 kills, three aces and eight digs to lead the Eagles past the Bulls and into the Southern Region final, 25-17, 25-15, 25-17.

Ava Wright passed out 38 assists for the two-time defending state champion Eagles (38-5), who will meet Moapa Valley in the Southern Region championship match at noon Saturday.

SLAM Academy finishes 17-10.

Moapa Valley 3, Mojave 0 — At Moapa Valley, Abbie Evans had 15 kills and served up two aces to lead the Pirates past the Rattlers, 25-16, 25-21, 25-23, in the Class 3A semifinals.

Sierra Bunker had nine kills and two aces for the Pirates (19-17). Madison Lopez had six kills, while Aqeelah Muhammad dished out 32 assists to lead the Rattlers (24-9).