LONGHORN INVITATIONAL: Aggies bounce back, top Mojave for tourney title

Arbor View’s boys volleyball team hadn’t lost to a Southern Nevada opponent all season prior to Thursday’s five-set setback to Bonanza.

Needing a quick rebound, the Aggies regained their swagger in the two-day Longhorn Invitational.

Arbor View finished with a 6-0 record, including a 25-23, 20-25, 15-12 victory over two-time defending Division I-A state champion Mojave in the bracket final Saturday, to win the nine-team tournament at Legacy High.

“Coming into this, we just wanted to get back on track,” Arbor View coach John Gibbons said. “That’s pretty much it. Just be more consistent. … I had high expectations but after the Bonanza game, I didn’t know. Today was refocusing on what we do well.”

Led by its big front line, Arbor View (26-3) swept Sierra Vista and Legacy earlier in the day to set up a final with Mojave (22-5), which had cruised by Cheyenne and Durango.

The Aggies won the first set 25-23 on a monster kill by 6-foot-4-inch junior outside hitter Treven Clizbe.

Though Gibbons loved his team’s intensity to start the match, he was more impressed with how the Aggies bounced back from dropping the back-and-forth second set that had 10 ties.

In the third set, Arbor View took a 13-9 lead and forced Mojave coach Erik Davis to call two timeouts. The Rattlers could not recover and lost the set, 15-12.

“I liked our fight after losing the second set,” Gibbons said. “Our kids refocused and we went to what we do best. We talked; we were consistent; we communicated.”

Brenden Wagner, a 6-6 outside hitter/middle blocker, led the way with 16 kills and three aces, and Brenden Gougeon dished out 29 assists for Arbor View, which also got 16 digs from Michael Prescia.

“(Mojave) is phenomenal so (winning) gives us a lot of confidence,” Gibbons said. “That’s what helps us. Our kids are still young. We only have two seniors that start. But our kids are young and they’re trying to figure it out. We have good guys in the back row passing the ball, we have Brenden (Gougeon) who makes good decisions, and we have guys that can finish.”

Clizbe, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, added 14 kills for the Aggies.

“He plays with so much emotion,” Gibbons said. “He focuses on what has to be done and he sees the court really well.”

Absalon Williams led Mojave with 12 kills. Alex Carvalho had nine kills, and Jason Zambrano added 26 assists for the Rattlers, who got two kills, two blocks and 10 digs from Clayton Fontano.

Fontano and Zambrano were selected to the all-tournament team, along with Centennial’s Justin Dietrich, Kade Frischknecht and Grant Nelson; and Durango’s Jaylen Clark and Andre Shabazz.