SUNSET REGION: Holley shines as Bulldogs eliminate Bengals

Centennial senior McKay Holley has played a limited role on the Bulldogs’ boys volleyball team’s left side, playing behind team captain Matt Kurtz and junior Dex Tidwell.

In Friday’s Sunset Region semifinal against Bonanza, Holley got his chance to shine.

Holley tallied eight kills off the bench in place of starter Kurtz, and Centennial claimed a 25-23, 25-18, 21-25, 25-18 win over the Bengals to clinch a berth in the boys volleyball state tournament next week.

“That was huge,” Centennial coach Scott Nelson said of Holley’s contribution. “We took our captain out and brought in McKay, who just gave us that spark and ignited us.”

Tidwell led the Bulldogs (17-3) with 11 kills, and Leo Durkin added 35 assists, three blocks and two aces for Centennial.

“He’s an asset in the front row, defensively, but also he was one of the servers that served the most for us,” Nelson said of Durkin. “He was creating a lot of opportunities; not so much aces, but tough serves that made it hard for Bonanza to run their offense.”

The Bulldogs held on for the first-game win, thanks to two clutch blocks from Ryan Ramin. They then rolled to a win in the second game with a 4-0 stretch that gave them a 17-14 lead.

But the Bengals (12-7) found new life in the third game, and Jared Harrington put up three of his game-high eight blocks and two of his 11 kills in the win.

“We just had to refocus, and focus on our passing, because it was struggling in the third game,” said Ramin, who finished with seven kills and five blocks. “So we got our passing back together, and we played well as a team in the third game.

“It’s a team sport, and everybody all around did their job well to finish them off.”

Centennial will face Shadow Ridge in the Sunset Region championship match at 7 p.m. on Friday at Palo Verde, but both teams will play in the state tournament, which begins Tuesday.

“It feels great (to clinch a state berth), but we want to win tomorrow so we can get the better seeding at state,” Ramin said.

Jason Bedford led Bonanza with 12 kills and three blocks, and Dustin Tippetts dished out 22 assists for the Bengals.

Shadow Ridge 3, Palo Verde 0 — At Palo Verde, Joe Pearson had 10 kills and three blocks to lead the Mustangs past the Panthers 27-25, 25-23, 25-22 and into the Sunset championship match.

Jake Shea added 11 kills for Shadow Ridge (19-1), and Jeremy Makaiwi dished out 36 assists.

Drew Topham led Palo Verde (13-7) with 12 kills and two blocks. Sean Wilson passed out 32 assists and tallied three kills, and Nick Hipwell had seven kills for the Panthers.