Lake Mead volleyball improves to 14-0, wins tournament

If the calendar said anything but 2008, the results of Saturday’s championship game in the Lake Mead Volleyball Tournament might have been different.

But this isn’t the same Lake Mead team.

Overcoming what has been the program’s Achilles’ heel in the past, the host Eagles staved off two game points in a tense opening game and three more in Game 3 to claim a 29-27, 25-19, 27-25 victory over Virgin Valley.

“This is an amazing team,” said Lake Mead coach Diana Lewis, whose team didn’t drop a game in the two-day tournament. “They fight, they come back, they don’t give up, and they don’t get down, which are all the things that defeated us in the past.”

Ashley Newton led the Eagles (14-0) with 17 kills and 11 digs on the way to being named tournament Most Valuable Player. Samantha Herman added seven kills and seven blocks, while Amanda Wellman chipped in with five kills, 15 digs and four blocks for Lake Mead.

In all, the Eagles were credited with 61 digs — Jocelyn Cox had a team-high 18 — as their defense proved to be the difference in what was a close match throughout.

“When we’re in the back row, we just talk to each other and tell each other we’re not going to let anything drop,” Newton said. “We have complete motivation.

“We’re getting it down. It just keeps getting better.”

Virgin Valley (13-4) fought back from a 20-17 deficit in Game 1 to go up 25-24 after a kill by Rachel Morris, one of a team-high nine for the middle blocker. A kill by Ellie Biasi put the Bulldogs on top 26-25, but Newton led Lake Mead back, and the Eagles scored four of the game’s final five points to close it out.

“We’ll see if we can learn from it,” said Virgin Valley coach Lori Barnum, whose team was without outside hitter Shelby Brotherson. “We’ve had problems with that for a while now, closing out games.”

Lake Mead trailed just once in the second game and went up 10-4 in Game 3 only to see the Bulldogs rally again. Virgin Valley led 24-22 and was up 25-24 following a kill by Sarah Franzen before the Eagles scored the final three points.

“This is a different team this year,” Lewis said. “We’ve been in this spot more times than I can count. They don’t care what the score is. They’re amazing. I’m so proud of them.”

Lake Mead advanced to the title game by defeating Henderson International (25-7, 25-9) in the quarterfinals and The Meadows (26-24, 27-25) in the semifinals.

Against Henderson International, Wellman had 10 aces, four kills and four digs. Newton added six kills and four digs.

Virgin Valley was a 25-9, 25-15 winner over Mountain View in the quarterfinals and beat Lund, 25-21, 25-17, to earn a spot in the title game.

Indian Springs won the Silver bracket of the tournament, defeating Sandy Valley, 25-23, 21-25, 26-24, 26-24, in the final.

Newton and Jessica Rinaldi were named to the all-tournament team. They were joined by Virgin Valley’s Jackie Lilly and Josie Lister, Lund’s Keisha Stewart, The Meadows’ Kim McLaughlin, Mountain View’s Felicia Joiner, Calvary Chapel’s Jamie Bearden and Laughlin’s Ariana Hardy.