PREP VOLLEYBALL: Truckee knocks off Dayton in 3A finale

RENO - They didn't win what would have been the school's second state volleyball title, but the Dayton Dust Devils played with the heart of champions Saturday afternoon.

Dayton overcame a 10-4 deficit to even the 3A state championship match in the second game, and almost came back from a 17-6 deficit in the fourth game. Unfortunately, Dayton fell short and lost, 15-25, 25-21, 20-25 and 26-28, to Truckee which successfully defended its 3A title at Bishop Manogue High School.

"I'm proud of them," Dayton coach Monica Halverson said. "They didn't give up. They kept fighting and fighting."

The best examples of that came in the second and fourth games.

In the final game, five Annie Reiswig kills enabled Truckee to build a 17-6 leads, and it looked like the Wolverines would coast in from there.

Wrong. Maybe Truckee got too overconfident or maybe it didn't realize how much heart and grit the Dust Devils had.

The Dust Devils scored 19 of the next 26 points to take a 25-24 lead as freshman Madi Foley had five of her 13 kills in that span, Jamie Darragh (five blocks, nine kills, two digs) had two kills and two aces and libero Amanda Arana served up six points in that barrage. Arana finished with 21 digs and seven kills while playing a tremendous match.

Foley was virtually unstoppable in the latter stages of the final game.

"Like I was unstoppable, and that I could keep it going," Foley said when asked how she felt in the final game. "She (McKenzie Kielty was doing a good job. She was trying to get points. Everybody stepped up that last game."

With a chance to win the game, Arana served long enabling Truckee to tie the game at 25. A Foley kill gave Dayton a 26-25 lead, but Reiswig tied it with a kill. The Wolverines finished off the match when Dayton was called for a bad set and Knoppel blocked Dayton's last shot to end it.

"Madi did a good job," Halverson said. "McKenzie knew where to put the ball and who to get the ball to. She did a great job."

In the opening game, Dayton looked lost. Four service errors, a net violation, several mishits and three Reiswig kills enabled Truckee to storm to a 17-7 lead.

Dayton scored eight of the next 12 points to make it 21-15 as Foley served up two aces and Kathie Arias (five kills, nine digs) slammed down two kills. A kill by Reiswig, an ace by Brittany Thomas and a tip by Allison Costa closed out the opening game, 25-15.

"I just think it was a lot of these kids had never been around it (state finals atmosphere)," Halverson said.

Translation? Dayton players were nervous and had the deer-in-the-headlights look.

Truckee got off to a 10-4 lead in Game 2, but Dayton scored 10 straight points to take a 14-10 lead.

Arana was at the service line for nine of those points, and she served up two aces in the run. Darragh was big at the net with three kills. Truckee cut the lead to 17-16 thanks to a Reiswig kill and a block by Costa. Dayton put the game away on a service error by Reiswig, a kill by Foley and a tip by Erin Edison.

"Amanda got us going," Halverson said. "She did a good job of getting us back in there."

The third game was close throughout.

Kills by Foley, Arana and a block/kill by Taylor Hill gave Dayton a 19-18 lead. Truckee stormed back to win six of the next seven points to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Reiswig had two kills in that span, while Krysta Murphy added one. Murphy had 11 kills, nine fewer than Reiswig, who finished with 20.

"She (Reiswig) really did a great job," said Halverson. "Her shots were very good."

That set the stage for a wild fourth game which went right down to the wire.

"It's been our goal the whole season," Truckee coach Erica Murphy said. "This was much better than yesterday. That was kind of ugly.

"A lot of them have played together for a long time. They have played on club teams. They've won middle school titles. The seniors are pretty tight."