RENO - The Galena volleyball team saw its bid to 4-peat as Northern 4A regional champs end abruptly in Saturday's semifinal match against Reno.
After losing the first game, the Huskies came back to win the next three, 19-25, 25-22, 25-18 and 25-22, and advanced to the championship game against Damonte Ranch at Galena. Reno, though, lost to the Mustangs, 25-12, 25-14 and 25-17.
"You never prepare for it and when it happens, it's a shock to the system," Grizzlies coach Teresa Burrows said about the season ending. "Reno turned it on and they were the better team today."
Beth Henneberg led the Huskies by posting a match-high 17 kills, Abby Boorman added nine and Hailey Corthell had seven. Lauren Bradley dished out 35 assists and Boorman led in blocks with five.
"The team's been improving since the first game we played in the season," Reno coach Frederico Santos said. "The team today really functioned and synchronized with each other."
Santos felt Reno responded well after losing the first game.
"We were more consistent during the game," he said. "The team didn't lose their confidence and that was an important factor. They didn't get discouraged."
Santos said the blocking game needed to be successful in order to beat Galena's outside and middle hitters. Reno primarily keyed on senior Nancy Burrows.
"We blocked pretty well," Santos said. "We tried to eliminate Nancy Burrows. In game situations, it really helped."
Casey Burke led the Grizzles with 12 kills and 12 digs, and Burrows also posted a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. Madison Hardy dished out 32 assists and Emily Aguiar added four block assists.
Burrows wasn't surprised by Reno's approach and said her team made critical errors which Reno capitalized on.
"They stayed pretty much to what we planned," Burrows said. "We made some timely mistakes and Reno took advantage of them. A good team's going to do that. You can't give them free ball after free ball."
Burrows said the Grizzlies worked as a team when it played both well and poorly. "When we played well, the team played good," she said. "When we played bad, the team played bad together. It was a total team effort."
YERINGTON 3, LOWRY 2
Yerington won the Northern 3A title by beating Lowry in five games in the championship match on Saturday in Winnemucca. The Lions and Lowry will face off again at 5 p.m. Friday in the NIAA 3A State semifinals at Galena.