By Richard Smith
Twitter: @rsmithYWV

The line of demarcation in girls volleyball for the 5A Northwest Region is very stark.

For the second straight year, Centennial, Sunrise Mountain and Phoenix Sunnyslope entered the fall believing they can contend for a state title. Apollo, Ironwood and Kellis come in looking to make progress into the playoffs.

So for now that progress is often measured against each other. When Kellis won its first set of a Oct. 10 home match against Ironwood and took a 21-10 lead in the second, the Cougars seemed on the verge of a breakthrough.

Then the Eagles stormed back to win the second set 25-23 with a pair of kills by senior middle blocker Nyakuer Aguek in the final three points. From there, Ironwood (10-13, 6-5 regular season) dominated the third set 25-18 and came back to take the fourth and the match 25-22.

"In the second set, we're up 21-10. Our next series of four plays were two missed serves, two swings out of bounds and a dropped ball. We can talk about defense as a whole but these matches are going to come down to making one or two plays. We've got to stay focused on that. That's going to be really important for us because we're not taller than anyone else or more athletic than anyone else," Kellis coach David Thistle said.

Indeed, the visitors did not take charge of the match until their frontline players at or above the six-foot mark put their stamp on play.

Top outside hitter Mya Jones was out with a concussion, so Eagles coach Lisa Lopez brought up two underclassmen. Aguek and the Omoruyi kwins, both juniors, combined for eight Eagles kills in the third set.

"McKenna Omoruyi was on varsity last year. For McKenzie and Nyakuer, this is their first time on varsity. It's something we've been working on with setter-hitter combinations. Every game they've been improving," Lopez said.

Kellis (5-12, 4-7) appeared to have withstood the Eagles rally, taking a 6-3 lead in the fourth set. Two kills by junior outside hitter Victoria Rico restored a 13-10 Cougars advantage.

McKenna Omoruyi struck back with two kills and a block to give her team a 20-19 lead. Kellis battled back to tie it at 22.

Ironwood junior libero Cristina Lopez served an ace and another serve that sent the Cougars scrambling to win the match. Before her, the serve of fellow junior libero Mallory Rich allowed the Eagles to string together some points.

"Serving has been something we've been working on since day one. Our first couple of games were ugly for serves. I would say after the third game we really cleaned it up," Lopez said.

She said the team has worked on its mental game in pressure situations and this win was a step forward.

Thistle is looking for the same gains in his second year as the Cougars girls coach. This team will be at a size disadvantage in most of its matches, which magnifies the need for precision serving, passing and defense.

"I'm happy that we played ourselves into some great situations. I'll take being up 21-10 with us serving every single time. But we've got to transition and make sure we take advantage of those situations," Thistle said.

Hailey Grant is the lone Cougars senior. Juniors like Rico, Marisa Chacon, Kylie Beenti and Sierra Snow have their promising moments.

But Thistle doesn't want to wait until his eight juniors become seniors for them to learn how to win.

"You mentioned how difficult our region is. All of that works in our favor if we can take advantage of situations. For us the idea is not making excuses and making less mistakes," Thistle said.

Lopez has been there in recent years and sees both programs starting to make progress.

"I've seen so much improvement under coach Thistle. It was a great game," Lopez said.