SUNRISE VOLLEYBALL: Heavey rallies Vikings past Wolves

Valley’s boys volleyball team turned to its heavy hitter for a spark after dropping the first set of the Sunrise Region tournament, 25-20, on Tuesday.

Senior Jack Heavey rallied his team to win the next three sets, 25-20, 26-24, 25-15 to defeat Basic at Las Vegas High. He finished with 26 kills, eight digs and an ace and was key in rallying the team in the second set. After falling behind 6-3 in the second, Heavey recorded four consecutive kills to give the Vikings a 7-6 advantage.

Valley (17-7) will meet Coronado (26-8) at 2 p.m. on Thursday at Las Vegas High in a semifinal.

“He’s our big hitter, no question about that,” Valley coach Matt Porter said. “He got us some big points. He’s our go-to guy, and he really did a great job today.”

Senior Micco Carinaud impressed Porter with his hustle, especially in the decisive fourth match.

“Micco stepped up and gave us a big lift with his play,” Porter said. “He made some blocks and had some big hustle plays, which set a tone as to what we needed to do effort-wise in order to win the match.”

Despite having the more experienced roster, the Vikings struggled in the first set as the Wolves led the entire way. In the third set, the Vikings rallied from a four-pount deficit late to take a 2-1 lead.

“We definitely make it interesting,” Porter said. “Basic played really hard, so you have to give them credit. We were resilient and able to fight back in that third game when things were not looking good. That’s what we want to do, battle in those situations and get a win.

“We just need to understand the situation better and realize that we have to play with a tremendous sense of urgency. If we can do that, we’ll solve all the other problems. We cannot come out tight. We must play hard for every ball.”

Senior Matthew Ballaro had 12 kills, eight digs and three blocks for the Vikings, and teammate Alex Sandoval added 47 assists and 18 digs. Zack Ross had seven kills, and David Delaney contributed 20 digs and two aces for Valley.

Basic’s Joaquin Pequeno had four blocks and 10 kills, and Calvin Knuppel recorded three blocks and seven kills for the Wolves, who got four blocks from Austin Delacarrera.

Foothill 3, Green Valley 1 — Trevor Robison had 15 kills, two aces and 13 digs in a 25-21, 22-25, 25-23, 25-18 victory over the Gators.

“It’s nice to get a win,” Foothill coach Chris Sisson said. “It’s been a long process this season of developing our youth. It is good to be able to take that youth, develop it and still win. The boys stepped up in big ways today.”

Colin Curi added 16 kills, and Weston Lott recorded 11 kills and two blocks. Setter Taeg Williams had 49 assists and nine digs, and libero Yuri Del Alcazar had 15 digs.

“Trevor always plays well for us,” Sisson said. “Yuri also played well, and Weston Lott did a great job in the middle. Our ground defense made some really big plays for us. We had some nice digs and made a lot of big plays keeping the ball alive so we could get the point. I’m really happy with that.”

Zachary Hewitt led the Gators with 14 kills, two blocks and seven digs. Dustin Elliot had 15 kills and eight digs, Arvin Nitollama had 38 assists, three kills and six digs, and Ethan Hunt notched six kills, one block and seven digs for Green Valley (9-9).

Foothill (11-8) faces Las Vegas (18-5) at 5:20 p.m. on Thursday in a semifinal.

Las Vegas 3, Eldorado 0 — T.J. Esporas’ 14 kills, eight digs and two blocks helped the Wildcats to a 25-21, 25-19, 25-17 sweep of the Sundevils.

Chris Kampshoff recorded 10 kills, and Shayne Marquez posted 36 assists and six digs for Las Vegas, which also got eight kills and three blocks from Guillermo Gonzalez.

Eldorado’s Dakota Shults had 13 kills, and Michael Thomas added 16 assists for the Sundevils (8-8).

Coronado 3, Silverado 0 — Blake Evans had 10 kills and three blocks to help the Cougars to a 26-24, 25-16, 25-10 sweep of the Skyhawks.

Travis Bowman had nine kills, one ace and two digs, and teammate Logan Dickover added 37 assists, five digs and two blocks for Coronado, which got nine kills and an ace from Dallin Bryan and 16 digs from Samuel Cox.

The high point of the match was when Coronado’s Michael Tatalovich, a survivor of Ewing’s sarcoma, took the floor and served the final four points, including one ace, to ice the match for the Cougars.

Austin Hunt had 13 kills to lead the Skyhawks. Travis Houston had 13 digs, and Cody Steckel added 18 assists for Silverado (5-13).