VB: #4 Horizon scores win over #1 Cactus Shadows
October 24, 2019 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365
Horizon's volleyball team took care of a lot of business Thursday night with its unexpected sweep of 5A Northeast Valley Region match with Cactus Shadows.
Most important to the Huskies their 25-21, 25-19, 25-19 victory over the Falcons placed them in tie for the region lead at 9-1 with two matches left. The teams have split their region meetings. A bonus was the fact Cactus Shadows was #1 in the conference power rankings and was the Falcons first power-ranking loss of the sason.
It was all in a night's work that honored three seniors and head coach Valorie McKenzie for her 40th year as the Huskies one and only volleyball coach.
The match started a little rugged for Horizon (28-10, 13-2 power-ranking matches). Cactus Shadows (21-9-1, 14-1 prm) built a 9-4 lead that led to McKenzie using her first timeout. The Huskies responded by tying the Falcons at 10 only to fall behind again 15-11. McKenzie burned her second time out at that point and prodded her team to "meet the challenge".
They did. A 6-0 run sparked by an ace by Taylor Johnson and kills from Eden Driescher and Kendal Murphy and the Huskies carried that momentum to a 1-0 lead.
"This team has responded very well to timeouts," McKenzie said. "The first set our passing was atrocious. We fixed it enough to play better from there. Our defense picked it up tonight. That's a credit to them because Cactus Shadows can serve it."
Horizon enjoyed a smoother time in the second set. The teams were tied 11-11 before a 6-1 run put the heat on Cactus Shadows at 17-12. Cactus Shadows shaved the deficit to 20-18 and McKenzie leaned on a timeout to settle her squad. Worked again with kills from Driescher and Murphy and a trio of errors (two hitting and one serving) put the Falcons in a defensive posture.
The final set saw Horizon lead from start to finish with four-to-five point leads the rule. Cactus Shadows made one good run at the lead pulling within 17-16. Another Horizon timeout followed and the Huskies pulled away getting kills from Driescher, Murphy, Kaden Young and Kayla Ray with an ace for good measure from Lauren Pierik.
Horizon puts a lineup on the floor heavy with underclassmen. They shined as they have much of the season. Murphy, a freshman outside hitter, collected 13 kills and 16 digs. Sophomore middle-outside Johnson had 11 kills and sophomore Kayden Young added seven kills and 17 digs. Sophomore setters Keira Hall and Pierik shared the spotlight with 18 assists and 13 assists, respectively.
Unofficial leaders on the attack for Cactus Shadows were junior outside hitter Lauren Wamsley (nine kills) and junior outside Jordan Clouse (five kills).