Tournament MVP Ashley Newton (right) of Lake Mead Christian Academy goes for a kill against Virgin Valley in the championship match of the the Lake Mead Christian Academy Invitational. LMCA won the match 3-0.
Before Lake Mead Christian Academy hosted their second annual volleyball tournament Friday and Saturday, the 12th and 13th, I had never watched so much volleyball in my life, let alone in one sitting. The more I watched, and with a lot of coaching help from the host coach, Diana Lewis, the more I understood and got into the games. These girls are strong, athletic, talented and hard-working. There was more than once when I was content being an observer, usually when I saw leather meet face on the receiving end of a wickedly hit ball that couldn’t be returned or avoided.
12 schools entered the tournament vying for the championship. Lake Mead began the tournament undefeated in season play and took the court in the first of twelve games on Friday morning. Looking to defend their championship win from the previous year, Sophomore Ashley Newton began play with 15 straight service points against fellow 1A League member Indian Springs. They would go on to win 2-0 (25-11, 25-5). (For complete game-by-game results of all 17 matches, click here.)
Day one pool play would see Lake Mead, Calvary Chapel, Meadows, Lund, Mtn View, Laughlin, Henderson Intl, and Virgin Valley move on to the Gold Bracket, while Indian Springs, Sandy Valley, Agassi Prep and Trinity would play in the Silver Bracket.
On day two, Indian Springs, behind strong serving, defeated Sandy Valley 3-1(25-23, 21-25,26-24,26-24), to win the silver bracket play in an evenly fought battle between 1A South foes.
In the quarter-finals, Lake Mead defeated Henderson, Meadows defeated Calvary, Lund defeated Laughlin and Virgin Valley defeated Mtn View, all by 2-0 scores.
The first semi-final match pitted the 2A Meadows Mustangs against Lake Mead. Behind great play from Kim McLaughlin both serving and passing, game 1 was lead by the Mustangs until Lake Mead took the lead at 24-23. Meadows would fight off the first game point before falling 26-24. Game 2 played out a lot like the first game and found the Eagles trailing 21-24. Newton again stepped to the service line and scored 3 points to tie the game at 24. The teams would trade points, tying at 25, before Lake Mead Junior Amanda Wellman, with some extra motivation from the Meadows bench, would fire two kills and take the final two points of the game, 27-25 and the match.
In semi-final two, the 3A Virgin Valley Bulldogs would face the 1A Lund Mustangs for the second time in the tournament. Despite being the smallest school at the tournament (Mtn View had more girls at the tournament than Lund has students in the high school - boys and girls combined), Lund would give the Bulldogs all they could handle. The first game found Lund ahead 16-14 when a rotation error was discovered. Amid controversy from the officials, Lund was stripped of 5 points and found themselves down by 3. The veteran Bulldogs took advantage of the momentum swing and pushed their lead to 20-15 but couldn’t put the fiesty squad of 8 away. Lund tied it at 20, but would fall 25-21. Game two was a bit easier for the bigger team and the Bulldogs prevailed 25-17.
After the game, Lund Coach Charis Maynard said,” Losing that momentum in the first game was too hard to overcome. It was unfortunate because our girls were playing so well. We came in here and accomplished the goals we set, so it was a success for us.”
The finals were set with a repeat of last years tournament. Both Lake Mead and Virgin Valley entered with 4-0 records, with the best of five match ahead. The first game was everything a championship game should be. There were 11 ties in the game before the Eagles would prevail 29-27. Game two played out much the same, seeing 6 ties before Lake Mead again prevailed 25-19.
The Eagles took their momentum from game 2 into the third game and found themselves with a 7-1 lead behind the consistent serving of Jocelyn Cox. The Bulldogs fought through and pulled within two at 16-14. They would tie the game at 17, then trade serves for several points before taking the lead from the Eagles at 22-21. The game saw three more ties. At 25-25, the Eagles would again rely on their consistent serving, finishing the tournament at just under 90%, to defeat Virgin Valley, 27-25.
“This group of girls is so amazing and awesome,” said Coach Diana Lewis, in her 8th year with Lake Mead, after the win. “They never panic in a game. They play consistent whether up by 5 or down by 5.
Our serving definitely improved at this tournament and our passing was great. Jocelyn (Cox) and Jessica(Rinaldi) put us in positions to succeed the whole tournament.”
In their 9 games, Cox and Rinaldi combined for 83 assists, 22 against Virgin Valley and consistently set up Wellman and Newton for the kill. Ashley Newton, with 17 kills, 11 digs and 4 blocks in the championship match, received tournament MVP honors - she finished the tournament with 10 aces, 7 blocks, 34 digs and 47 kills.
Newton contributed the Eagles success to their team philosophy of keeping each other up. “We have great chemistry and are such good friends. We are loyal to each other on and off the floor and it pays off for us,” she said after receiving her honor.
Lake Mead remained undeafeated on the season, at 14-0 and will be the team to beat when league play starts. They will travel to Huntington Beach, CA to compete in another tournament this weekend.