Ironwood went 6-0 to capture the championship of the Salpointe Lancer Volleyball Invitational held Friday and Saturday. Ranked No. 1 in the 5A Conference, the Eagles beat 4A No. 3 Salpointe in the championship final in three sets.

The Lancers came back from as many as five points in the first set to tie the set up at 18-18 and the team went on to build what looked like a comfortable 24-19 lead but the Eagles showed why they are expected to battle for the state title by battling back to tie the set up 24-24. Junior setter Antony Owens responded with a set to junior Lehi Rocha to put Salpointe back up 25-24 and then another pass to Tyler Nitka gave the Lancers a 1-0 lead at 26-24.

Rocha scored late in the second set to cut the Ironwood lead down to 19-16 but senior setter Jayden Trubl collected three assists down the stretch and senior Chance Lagoni put the set away 25-16 to tie the match at 1-1.

Salpointe. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

The third set was pretty even until the Eagles scored on a kill from senior Cuen Griffin to give Ironwood a comfortable 11-8 lead and the team traded scores from there with the Eagles taking it 15-11 for the 2-1 victory.

Unofficially, Griffin had 12 kills to lead Ironwood and Lagoni had 10 with Trubl collecting 22 assists. Owens had 13 assists for Salpointe and sophomore Donovan Leber added eight. The Lancer kills were spread evenly across the board to Rocha, Nitka, senior Thor Haldorsen and junior Shane Palmer.

Ironwood is 10-0 in ranking matches with 5A No. 19 Willow Canyon (5-5) visiting on April 14 and Salpointe is 12-1 with the program heading our to 4A No. 23 Sahuaro (5-5) on the same night.

The 4A, 5A and 6A Conference Play-In Tournament is slated for May 5 and the first round of the state playoffs is set for May 8. The first round of the 3A playoffs is set for May 5.