ESPNHS Volleyball

By Walter Villa

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – If you assumed Assumption is the only strong team in Kentucky, you’d be wrong.

Assumption (Louisville, Ky.) won the Durango Fall Classic on Saturday night, but the Rockets’ two state mates at the tournament also had impressive showings.

Sacred Heart (Louisville, Ky.) won the silver championship Saturday, rallying to beat Torrey Pines (San Diego, Calif.), 22-25, 25-14, 25-21. The silver title was good for an overall finish of ninth place.

The third Kentucky team at Durango this weekend was Notre Dame Academy (Park Hills, Ky.), and the Pandas finished a respectable 15^th out of 48.

All three Kentucky teams entered the tournament ranked in the POWERADE FAB 50, with Assumption 13^th, Sacred Heart 35^thand Notre Dame 46^th.

The trio combined to go 9-0 on Friday and 17-4 for the weekend, with three of the losses charged to Notre Dame (4-3). Assumption went 7-0, and Sacred Heart rolled to a 6-1 record in Vegas.

“We’ve been clicking the last couple of weeks or so,” Sacred Heart coach Eric Garvey said. “This was a continuation of us playing well.”

Sacred Heart’s only loss in Vegas was Saturday morning in a round of 16 game against Xavier (Phoenix, Ariz.), 25-18, 25-23. But Garvey’s team regrouped and won three straight, beating Pleasant Grove (Pleasant Grove, Utah), Edison (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Torrey Pines.

Sacred Heart, which lost just three sets in its seven matches, has another big test on Sept. 25 at Assumption.

“They’re tough,” Garvey said of Assumption. “Their two setters, Katie George and Alexa Filley, are amazing.”

California shows its depth
None of them won the top prize, but three California schools finished in the top four. Los Alamitos (Los Alamitos, Calif.) came in second, followed by Marymount (Los Angeles, Calif.) and La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad, Calif.).

Los Alamitos, which entered the tournament ranked seventh in the POWERADE FAB 50 – highest among all the teams at Durango – is now 12-1. It had not lost a set this season until Saturday’s semifinals, when it gave up a 24-21 lead to Marymount.

Los Alamitos came back to beat Marymount but could not sustain that momentum against Assumption.

Champs again, sort of
Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.), which won the 2010 Durango Fall Classic, failed to repeat this year, losing in Friday’s play-in game to Xavier.

But Harvard-Westlake showed character in rebounding to win the competition division championship, good for an overall finish of 25^th.

No Ma’a for Kamehameha
Misty Ma’a, a talented 6-foot-1 outside hitter, missed the last three matches for Kamehameha (Honolulu, Hawaii) after hurting her right arm diving for a ball.

Ma’a, showing a bruise on her right forearm, appeared to be in pain, although no tests had yet been taken to determine the severity of the injury.

“It’s frustrating to sit out matches,” said Ma’a, who said she did not think the injury was serious.

Even without Ma’a, Kamehameha was impressive, finishing sixth. The Warriors lost a heartbreaker in the quarterfinals, falling 27-25, 25-23 to La Costa Canyon.

Green Valley leads Vegas teams
Green Valley (Henderson, Nev.), which had a big showing on Friday, came in 28^th, the highest finish for a Vegas-area team in this year’s tournament.

Host Durango came in 45^th, just ahead of fellow Vegas-area schools Shadow Ridge (Las Vegas, Nev.), Coronado (Henderson, Nev.) and Foothill (Henderson, Nev.).

By Walter Villa

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Green Valley (Henderson, Nev.) exceeded expectations on Friday, showing that Las Vegas-area teams can compete with some of the nation’s elite.

Green Valley, seeded 32nd in this weekend’s 48-team Durango Fall Classic, stunned the tournament’s top overall seed, Marymount (Los Angeles, Calif.) with a 25-23 first-set win. Marymount went on to win the next two sets, 25-19, 25-15.

Because Green Valley finished second to Marymount in its pool, the Gators qualified for a play-in game and the chance to qualify for Saturday’s Sweet 16 round.

Green Valley got another tough draw: La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad, Calif.), which finished in second place at Durango last year.

Green Valley again gave the favorites a jolt, beating La Costa Canyon, 25-21 in the first set before losing 25-11, 25-11.

“It was a great night for Green Valley and a great night for Las Vegas volleyball,” Gators coach Erin Hill said, alluding to the fact that Vegas teams have never won Durango and have lately not even been very competitive. “I’m thrilled with how we played. We’re young, but we showed up.”

Hill, who was there when Green Valley opened in 1991, is the only coach in school history. She welcomed 140 girls to her very first practice and worked some minor miracles early, winning state titles in 1993, ’95, ’96 and ’01.

No other Vegas-area team has won more Class 4A state titles in girls volleyball. But since the Gators’ golden start, four new schools have opened that have taken enrollment away from Green Valley.

“We have good players in Las Vegas – girls who have gone on to compete at the Division I level,” Hill said. “They just don’t all play for the same high school.”

Still, the Gators have remained a force. Last year, they finished 29-9 and lost in the state final for the second year in a row. The Gators graduated five players from that team.

This season’s team returns four starters: 5-9 junior setter Jenna Swaffer, 5-11 junior outside hitter Carly Schiess, 5-10 sophomore outside hitter Nikki Drost and 5-4 senior libero Alexa Drost.

They also have right-side hitter Sommer King, a 5-9 junior who has emerged this season as an underrated force, and 6-0 junior middle hitter Julie Dramise, who came up big on Friday.

Tournament is on the rise

The Durango Fall Classic started with 16 teams in 1995, quickly grew to 32 schools and now sits at 48.

Bob Kelly, who created the tournament and still runs it, said he is most proud of two things connected with his event: the geographical diversity of the teams and the element of surprise.

The diversity is evident when you see that there are teams from 10 states -- including Alaska and Hawaii -- and Canada.

As for the surprise factor, Kelly said every year seems to produce an unranked team that emerges in Las Vegas. Last year, it was Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.), which shocked many experts by winning the tournament.

Two years ago, it was Newport Harbor (Newport Beach, Calif.), which finished second. They were unranked before the tournament started but finished the year No. 15.

“My gut feeling is that there will be a team from California that surprises again this year,” Kelly said. “There are a lot of outstanding teams out there.”

A hungry player

Senior outside hitter Misty Ma’a of Kamehameha (Honolulu, Hawaii) is making her fourth straight trip to Vegas, and she has found her favorite place to eat. “The buffet at the Rio Hotel,” she said. “It’s the highlight of my life -- the best food I have ever seen. We starve ourselves for months so we can eat there.”