DIVISION I-A VOLLEYBALL: Mountain Lions ride McCoy into title match

Sierra Vista’s Christian McCoy kept telling his teammates during timeouts and between sets Tuesday that he wasn’t leaving Chaparral’s gym with a loss.

Not when the Mountain Lions lost consecutive sets to fall behind 2-1 to the Cowboys, and not when the teams headed into the fifth and decisive set of the Division I-A state semifinal.

In case they weren’t listening, the 6-foot-2-inch junior took over, posting 26 kills to lead the Mountain Lions past Chaparral 25-21, 17-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-9. Sierra Vista (14-13) will meet two-time defending champion Mojave (32-5) for the title at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Chaparral.

“I just had to leave it all on the floor, I couldn’t go home with a loss,” said McCoy, who also had 23 digs. “I want this bad, and I want this more than anything. And I was going to do whatever it takes to get there.”

After Chaparral had tied the fifth set at 5-all, the Mountain Lions used a power kill and tip from McCoy to start a match-ending 10-4 run. McCoy had four kills in the final set.

“It just sparked him; he’s always been a leader,” Sierra Vista coach Camille McComas said. “We like to call him the horse and everybody else (the) ponies. He was our horse tonight. We’ve been talking all season about diversity, but in the clutch we know he’s a go-to kid and he’s a finisher.”

Matt Marik had 64 digs, and Brendan Cowden added 62 assists and 22 digs for the Mountain Lions.

Chaparral (16-10) had its chances, especially after it overcame a seven-point deficit to win the third set. The Cowboys kept it close early in the fourth set, trailing 11-9 before Sierra Vista went on a 5-1 run and never looked back.

“We just reminded ourselves of the work we put in, and all teams do that at the end of the day,” McComas said. “If you really worked hard, then you feel you deserve it. And you feel like you deserve to be there and you’re expecting to be there.”

Isai Barrios had 15 kills, eight digs and four aces to lead the Cowboys. Ezequiel Borrero added 42 assists and five kills for Chaparral.

Mojave 3, Tech 0 — The Rattlers continued their march toward a third straight title with a 25-18, 25-15, 25-15 semifinal victory over the Roadrunners.

It was the sixth consecutive straight-set victory for Mojave, which hasn’t lost since mid-April. Mojave has dropped just one set in its last 10 matches.

Jason Zambrano led the Rattlers with 32 assists, 10 digs and three service aces, and teammate Absalon Williams had 14 kills and seven blocks.

“To win a state championship for these boys is a big thing,” Mojave coach Erik Davis said. “The fact that they’ve done it before and they have experience going into this last one, I’m excited for them to play for their third straight state championship.”

Julius Barnes and Collin Faught each had nine assists and two digs to lead Tech (9-6). Lamberto Nunez and Sir-Issak Singleton each added six kills for the Roadrunners.