For all the success the Arbor View boys volleyball program has achieved, there still had been one glaring omission among its list of accolades: A state championship game appearance.
The Aggies have checked that box and now can set their sights on bringing the school its first volleyball title.
On Wednesday, finishing off a triple-header of boys volleyball state championship games is the Class 5A contest between No. 3-seeded Arbor View (27-13-1) and No. 1 Centennial (32-5) at 7 p.m. at Sunrise Mountain High School in a battle between two Northwest rivals.
Boulder City and Moapa Valley begin the day at 3 p.m. playing for the 3A title, and Desert Oasis will face Sky Pointe for the 4A crown at 5 p.m.
Centennial coach Kristie Heaton said she was not surprised to see Arbor View emerge out of a deep 5A classification to get to the title game. She called the rivalry between the two teams “healthy,” which she said it will have an impact on the game with the expected large crowd.
“It’s absolutely going to be a factor,” Heaton said of the crowd energy from the two schools’ rivalry in all sports. “I think coming from the crowd, the support that’s going to come from the crowd cheering on, it’s going to have a huge impact. … It can spark and encourage all of the excitement that comes with volleyball. It also adds to (that feeling of), I really want to beat them more.”
Seeking 1st title
Arbor View coach Nicole Adarme said she was hoping that the Aggies would meet Centennial, which did not drop a league game to a 5A opponent this year, in the final match.
“We were hoping to end up in the area of the bracket because of the good rivalry that we’ve always had with Centennial,” Adarme said. “The boys were excited about it. We think it’s going to be a really competitive game. We have a lot of respect for Centennial and Coach Heaton and things that she does over there.”
Arbor View has reached the state semifinals four times. Adarme said with half of the team’s seniors having three years of varsity playing experience, that they’ve “peaked at the right time,” riding a seven-match winning streak heading into the title game.
The coach credited the senior leadership and play of seniors Kenyon Wickliffe (third in the state with a .480 hitting percentage), Luke Hashimoto and Graham Blanchard for helping the team work through earlier defeats to prepare everyone for a state run.
“We started the season knowing that we had the possibility of being a state team,” Adarme said. “In our history, we’ve had teams that have had the possibility, and then we’ve fallen short. This year, our focus for the season, especially with some of those returners that didn’t have that opportunity (to play for a state title) in the last couple seasons, it was about just deserving to be that team and what it took to do that.”
‘Holding our tempo’
Centennial beat Arbor View in five sets in a nonleague match on March 24, and then swept the Aggies in a league match on April 14. The Aggies did beat Centennial in two sets as part of a tournament on March 28.
The Bulldogs, who are looking for their third volleyball title and first since 2018, have been led by their own senior leaders, such as Lincoln Larson who is second in the state with 411 kills and middle blocker Mau Tuiaana, who is fifth in the state with 92 total blocks.
Heaton said the leadership has correlated to the team keeping a high level of play throughout the year as the Bulldogs carry an 11-game winning streak into the title match.
“The last week, week and a half or so, these boys have been practicing and playing at our tempo. This is our pace. We’re going to hold this the whole time,” Heaton said. “Doesn’t matter how big of a lead or small of a lead we get, we’re holding our tempo and our speed and control of the game.”
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
Up next
What: Boys volleyball state championships
When: Wednesday
Where: Sunrise Mountain High School
Class 3A: Virgin Valley vs. Boulder City, 3 p.m.
Class 4A: Desert Oasis vs. Sky Pointe, 5 p.m.
Class 5A: Arbor View vs. Centennial, 7 p.m.
