Small schools state roundup: Emily Ebel’s ace sends The Meadows to Class 2A state title match

Somehow, Emily Ebel knew she was going to do it.

Taking the serve up 24-19 with a chance to clinch it,her serve floated over the net and victoriously to the floor for a walk-off service ace to send The Meadows’ girls volleyball to the Class 2A state title match with a 20-25, 25-22, 25-12, 25-19 victory over White Pine at Faith Lutheran on Friday.

“I went back there and I was thinking to myself the whole time, ‘Emily you’re going to get this ace,’ ” Ebel said. And when I got the ace, everybody went crazy.”

The Mustangs (33-4-3) are seeking the fifth state championship in school history, and first since 2009. In order to get it, they will have to get through defending state runner-up Yerington (30-6).

But The Meadows is confident. After winning the Southern League title last week, coach Steph Heller i

“Thinking ahead and looking at what the north has, we knew their schedule is a little more tough than our 2A schedule in the south,” Heller said. “I was a little nervous and a little anxiety-ridden that we would come out nervous in the first game, and we did.”

Losing sets is not something The Meadows is used to. The Mustangs won almost all their matches by a sweep, dropping a set to a Class 2A just once all season. After the opening-set loss, the Mustangs were dominant.

Beau Thistle led the way with 19 kills, and Dani Mason had 16 kills and 16 digs for the Mustangs. Mira Gollard had 36 assists, five aces and five digs, Anna Dorn had 17 digs, and Ebel added 11 digs in addition to her ace.

“I’m literally in shock,” Ebel said. “We have a lot of maturity on this team and as soon as we stepped on the court for that second game, we were ready to win.”

White Pine ended the year 27-6.

Yerington 3, Calvary Chapel 0 — At Faith Lutheran, Olivia Kaiser had 11 kills for Calvary Chapel, but it lost to Yerington in the Class 2A state semifinals, 20-25, 21-25, 13-25.

Calvary Chapel’s Michaela Odom and Talina Inguanzio each had five kills for Calvary Chapel (23-9-1), and Inguanzio had Calvary Chapel’s lone ace.

Pahranagat Valley 3, Virginia City 0 — At Faith Lutheran, Morgan Harris had 15 kills, 12 digs and five aces to power the Panthers over the Muckers, 25-16, 25-18, 25-13 in a Class 1A state semifinal match.

Karley Whipple had 12 kills and 11 digs for the Panthers (22-11-3), Madalyn Taylor had 16 assists and seven digs, and Ashlyn Wadsworth had 19 assists.

Chelsea Nevin led the Muckers (25-8) with 10 kills, four digs, three blocks and two assists.

Pahranagat Valley will meet Owyhee (19-6) in the state title match at noon Saturday at Faith Lutheran.

Owyhee 3, Tonopah 0 — At Faith Lutheran, the Braves cruised to a 25-6, 25-5, 25-15 rout over the Muckers in the other Class 1A semifinal.

The Muckers ended their year 18-6.