SUNSET VOLLEYBALL: Gorman rallies to beat Shadow Ridge

Gianna Ruggeroli hasn’t been the most consistent server this season for the Bishop Gorman girls volleyball team.

So with the Gaels on the verge of falling into a two-set hole against Shadow Ridge on Thursday, coach Ed Van Meetren admitted that the senior outside hitter wasn’t his first choice to spark a comeback.

“I was nervous with her going back to serve at that point,” Van Meetren said. “But we know she has it in her. She did an outstanding job.”

Thanks to a string of tough serves from Ruggeroli, the Gaels scored the final eight points of the second set and rallied for a 26-28, 26-24, 25-14, 25-21 victory in the semifinals of the Division I Sunset Region tournament at Legacy.

Ruggeroli finished with 14 kills and seven aces, and Victoria Ewalefo added 12 kills and four blocks as Gorman (28-7) advanced to the region final against Northwest League champion Palo Verde (33-4) at 6 p.m. Friday at Legacy.

“We’ve played some tough tournaments and we’ve done as much as we can to make sure we’re prepared and ready to compete, and they don’t quit,” Van Meetren said. “It took a while, but we were able to get things going. Even when we got down in the second game, I was confident once we built some momentum we’d be pretty tough.”

The Mustangs (19-12) won the first set and went ahead 24-18 in the second when Olivia Denny dived to dig Ruggeroli’s tip shot and the ball landed in the back corner of the court. But Gorman was able to sideout on a kill by Ewalefo and Ruggeroli then got on a hot streak from the service line.

“We had game point for five points, and we didn’t finish and execute like we wanted to,” Shadow Ridge coach Karissa Guthrie said. “At times we played good defense, but we had a tough time with serve-receive.”

An ace by Ruggeroli cut the Mustangs’ lead to 24-23 and another ace put Gorman ahead 25-24 before the Gaels closed out the set. Gorman then scored seven of the first eight points in the third set to take control of the match.

The Gaels, the Southwest League No. 1 seed, ended with 15 aces.

Emma Filosi had 39 assists for the Gaels. Francesca Manz had nine kills and three blocks, and Emma Kirst chipped in with eight kills and four blocks as Gorman’s balanced offense wore down the Mustangs.

“We’re battle tested,” Van Meetren said. “You can’t key on one player for us. We have so many people, it’s hard to take away one aspect of it.”

Ashley Smith led the Mustangs with 21 kills, and Denny dished out 31 assists to go along with 17 digs.

“You’ve got to give Gorman credit for just plugging away,” Guthrie said. “I don’t want to say we let them off the hook. We didn’t execute.”

Palo Verde 3, Centennial 0 — At Legacy, Lexi Riggs put away 12 kills, and Stephanie Herman finished with 30 assists, three kills, five digs and two aces as the Panthers swept the Bulldogs 25-13, 25-13, 25-15 in the other semifinal.

Kendall Cheval had eight kills and 10 digs, and McCall Phillips chipped in with seven kills, seven digs and two blocks as Palo Verde continually exploited the soft spot in the middle of the Bulldogs’ defense.

Tiana Bonds led Centennial (21-12) with five kills, and teammates Cristina Owens, Taylor Hartle and Cydni Long each had four kills. Kristi Farley recorded 18 assists for the Bulldogs.