VOLLEYBALL: Bobcats top Mustangs for Division III title

White Pine’s girls volleyball team entered Saturday’s Division III Southern League tournament championship on a 17-match winning streak.

The Bobcats, though, were facing the team that last defeated them.

White Pine promptly dropped the first set to The Meadows, and trailed by six points late in the second set. But the Bobcats rallied behind the play of Ashlyn Huntington, Emily Bischoff and Debra Kingston for a 20-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-21 victory over the Mustangs in the tournament final.

Both teams advance to the state tournament, which begins Friday in Reno.

“I’ve envisioned this very day, I can’t believe we have finally accomplished it,” said White Pine coach Kenna Almberg, whose team qualified for state for the first time in 10 years. “I told them in order to be champions, you have to play like champions.”

Down 18-12 in the second set, White Pine (24-5) got two kills each from Debra Kingston and Huntington plus big blocks from Mikinkley Prengel during a 13-3 run to even the match.

The Bobcats used the momentum to build leads of 13-8 and 20-15 in the third set on their way to a 2-1 lead.

The final set saw White Pine’s front line eventually take advantage of The Meadows, which had just finished a four-set win over Lincoln County in the second semifinal.

“I think we just were wore down,” The Meadows coach Stephanie Heller said. “We did have problems with receiving the serve and made mistakes down the stretch. Give credit to White Pine, they have some good athletes.”

Huntington had 10 kills, and Emily Bischoff added seven kills for the Bobcats (24-5). Kingston had six kills, and Jaden Ernest had 29 assists and 17 digs for White Pine.

Brooke Brennan, who had six kills in the opening set for The Meadows, led the Mustangs with 16 kills, 22 digs, four assists and two aces. Dani Otter added 16 kills, seven digs, six blocks and three aces for the Mustangs (20-13). Amanda Hansen added 19 digs and three aces for The Meadows.

White Pine 3, Calvary Chapel 1 — In the first semifinal, Huntington had 15 kills and 22 digs as the Bobcats rallied to down the Lions, 22-25, 25-22, 25-12, 25-19.

Kingston had 13 kills for the Bobcats, and Ernest had 39 assists.

Alexis Harris had 15 digs and eight kills for Calvary Chapel (20-12). Marissa Tiemann had six blocks and six kills, and Mariah Martin finished with 11 assists for the Lions.

The Meadows 3, Lincoln County 1 — Otter had 24 kills, seven blocks and three aces as the Mustangs topped the Lynx, 21-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-16 in the other semifinal.

Brennan added 18 digs, nine blocks, three aces and three blocks for The Meadows, and teammate Missy Siegel had 29 assists and 15 digs.

Lincoln County (19-11) was led by Chesnee Harding’s 12 assists, seven digs and four aces. Kayla Mathews added eight kills, six digs and two aces, and Cameron Lloyd served six aces for the Lynx.

DIVISION IV

Madison Harris had eight kills, and Karley Whipple added seven kills, two aces and three digs to help host Pahranagat Valley capture the Southern League title with a 25-17, 25-8, 25-10 win over Beatty in the title match.

Allyse Frehner had 16 assists and Jamie Hansen had four aces and seven digs for the Panthers (22-6), who got three aces and six digs from Brook Higbee.

Beatty (11-4), which advanced with a 25-19, 21-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-7 win over Sandy Valley in the semifinals, will join Pahranagat Valley in the state tournament, which begins Friday in Reno.

Pahranagat Valley 3, Beaver Dam 0 — Harris had seven kills and four aces, and Whipple supplied eight kills and three digs to lead the Panthers to a 25-9, 25-20, 25-11 semifinal win over the Diamondbacks (9-7).

Frehner had 23 assists, and Alyson Egbert added five kills for Pahranagat Valley, which got nine digs and five aces from Hansen.