Valley Christian, Snowflake reach 3A VB final

November 12, 2021 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Snowflake setter Braxton Jones (8) does her job in semifinal victory over ALA Gilbert North on Friday night. (Azpreps365 photo)

The 3A volleyball final participants fell into line with all the other conferences Friday night in paring down its title matchup.

#1 Snowflake and #2 Valley Christian each posted sweeps to earn a crack at their first titles in the sport in some time. Snowflake swept #5 American Leadership Academy Gilbert North, 25-17, 25-10, 25-23 in the first match of semifinal night at Skyline High School. Snowflake is seeking its first title in a quarter century. The Lobos last won a volleyball title (3A) in 1996. Snowflake and Valley Christian square off for the title at 1 p.m. at Arizona Veteran's Memorial  Coliseum. 

Valley Christian, the 3A runner-up each of the past two seasons, hasn't won a title since 2009 when it competed in 2A. The Trojans dispatched #6 Empire in the late semifinal at Skyline, 25-21, 25-11, 25-19.

Valley Christian's Cara Braun (12) with a dig in Friday's semifinal victory over Empire. (Azpreps365 photo)

Snowflake spread the wealth in its attack in defeating ALA Gilbert North. The Lobos were led unofficially by senior outside Macee LeSueur with 15 kills. Next were junior Lily Lundberg (8 kills), sophomore Addy Fisher (6 kills) and sophomore Macey Gardner (5 kills). Senior Brooklin Bogle paced ALA Gilbert North with 8 kills.

Valley Christian's top attackers were on their games, led by senior outside Cara Braun. Braun collected a match-high 17 kills. Juniors Kate Phillips and Korah Nordin were next with 12 kills and 9 kills, respectively. 

All six conferences (6A through 1A) have or had the #1 and #2 seeds advance to play for their respective titles - Hamilton-SDO, Millennium-Horizon, CDO-Notre Dame Prep, Snowflake-Valley Christian, Phoenix Country Day-Chandler Prep and Tempe Prep-Rock Point.