Volleyball: Douglas punches ticket to state title match

The Douglas volleyball team sure has grown fond of the comeback win in the past week.

The Lady Tigers fought off four game points in the opening set of the state semifinals against Bishop Gorman Friday night to take a 29-27, 25-23, 27-25 win at Bishop Manogue High School in Reno.

"It was crazy," Douglas coach Suzi Townsell said with a laugh. "It seems like they just like to play from behind like that. They like to tease me and kill me.

"It's just a testament to what we've been driving toward all year. Just that 15-as-1 philosophy. When we started not playing as a group, that's when things got off a little. When we pulled back together, it went well."

Douglas will face Green Valley, 3-2 winners over Manogue in the semifinals, Saturday at 4 p.m. at Bishop Manogue for the state championship.

Friday marked the third time in as many matches the Tigers had to mount a comeback in the opening game before pushing ahead for a sweep.

Unlike the previous comeback wins, though, the Game 1 comeback win didn't serve as a backbreaker to the opposing team.

Gorman committed few errors and rode an outstanding defensive effort from its receiving line while never really giving the Tigers any room to breath,

The Gaels even rode a 7-2 run to tie the second game at 23 before Douglas put it away, and then pushed the Tigers to game point twice in the third before Douglas sealed the sweep.

Douglas had strong nights from its powerful outside tandem as Shannon Dugan had 14 kills and Brenna White added nine, including the winning point in each of the three games.

It was the timely play of its front line, though, that pushed Douglas over the top.

The trio of Emily Garcia (7 kills), Erin Allison (9 kills) and Keely Latham (5 kills) combined to score six points when Douglas was facing game point.

Jackie Harper dished out 42 assists, Mia Townsell had 20 digs and Nikki Chavez, who played almost exclusively in late-game situations, came up with 10 key digs.

Douglas' spread, quick-tempo offense also gave the Gaels stout blocking line fits throughout.

"That's something we came in with and we wanted to make sure we were going to use it to our advantage," Townsell said. "It kept them on their heels a bit and it seemed to work out."