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SUNRISE VOLLEYBALL: Green Valley serves up sweep of Vikings

Green Valley’s boys volleyball team formed a tight circle after the pregame introductions Thursday and began shuffling to the chant, ‘G-V partyyy … G-V partyyy.’

The Gators proceeded to, as millennials would say, “turn up.”

Green Valley grabbed early leads in every set before cruising to a 25-18, 25-11, 25-19 sweep of Valley in the Division I Sunrise Region semifinals at Foothill.

The Gators (28-7) will meet Foothill (28-10) in the region final at 7 p.m. Friday at Legacy. Both teams advance to the state tournament, which begins Tuesday at Legacy.

“It’s a little ritual we have,” senior middle blocker Chase Larson said. “We learned it over club season and we just stuck with it. We like it. It got us hyped.”

Green Valley was the DJ at its own party from the opening serve. The Gators took a 5-0 and a 12-3 lead before Valley coach Matt Porter called his first timeout.

The nine-point lead would not be relinquished, and the Gators took the set on a service error.

“I always think it’s important to start games very strong,” Larson said. “That was our mentality when we came into the game and it worked.”

The early leads became a trend, as the Gators stormed to a 20-6 lead in the second set and a 7-2 lead in the third set.

“It definitely gives us a little extra pep in our step, for sure,” Green Valley coach Emily Baracco said. “Our serving is really tough. And that’s really what gets us in those kinds of situations. I’m really proud of the boys. It’s nice to not have our hearts beating fast at the beginning.”

With the leads, setter Zachary Hewitt comfortably was able to spread the ball around to all of his teammates. The senior finished with 35 assists.

“Having some big outsides gives me a lot of comfort on the court,” Hewitt said. “I feel like I can give the ball to anyone. And that’s a really good feeling as a setter. The team played really well and worked hard today.”

The third set had seven ties and five lead changes. But Valley (23-13) already was overmatched by then and couldn’t contain the Gators’ big front line.

Larson had 13 kills and five blocks to lead the Green Valley hitters.

“Chase is great. He’s a captain of ours and the kids really rise to the occasion when he demands more from them,” Baracco said. “And he leads by example. In volleyball it’s so easy to demand something from your teammates, but if you can’t do it yourself, it’s kind of an empty threat. He really fires them up.”

Dustin Elliott had 11 kills, and Tyler Dancel contributed three aces and 12 digs for the Gators.

Marty Heavey led Valley with 12 kills and six digs. Jared Marchello had six kills, 13 digs and two blocks, and Justin Sandoval added 21 assists for the Vikings, who also got three blocks from Isaac Frazier.

Foothill 3, Las Vegas 1 — Las Vegas faced match point four times in the fourth set, but always found a way to even the score and extend the contest.

Foothill’s Shilo Chow had enough on his team’s fifth attempt to close out.

Chow sent the ball to an opening in the far right corner of the court to end the seesaw fourth set, as the host Falcons outlasted the Wildcats, 25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 29-27 in the other region semifinal.

“Las Vegas kept the ball alive. Neither team was going to make an error,” Foothill coach Chris Sisson said of the final point. “It was just a matter of who was going to make a play to end it. And that’s how it should be. It’s great when a team wins the game on making a play. I hate to see it when a team loses on an error.

“Any time we play Vegas, it’s tough. This is the fifth year I’ve been coach and every year we have to play them. They’re always a fight. The ball’s not going to go down without a fight.”

Chow finished with 43 assists, 13 digs, seven blocks and eight kills.

“The thing about Shilo is how well-rounded of a player he is,” Sisson said. “If you look at his stats from the setter position, he gets kills. He’s one of our best blockers. He’s probably one of the best blockers in town.”

Zachary Thompson added 11 kills and 11 blocks for Foothill. Jonny Rolle had 13 kills, and Troy Bell notched 19 digs for the Falcons.

“We’ve been working all season on taking care of the ball late in sets,” Sisson said. “We don’t want our errors beating us. And credit to Vegas because they were moving the ball around. I think their middles did a tremendous job of getting kills and getting through our block.”

Luis Wong had 56 assists to lead Las Vegas (27-13).

Raymond Magante had 20 kills and 17 digs, and Brandon Kampshoff added 18 kills for the Wildcats, who also got contributions from Ronell Sueno (16 kills) and Cannon McCoy (26 digs).

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