Page 66 - 2020 AIA Volleyball Championship Program

By George Werner AZPreps365.com
#1 Northwest Christian (15-0, 9-0)
3A: All eyes on norThwesT chrisTiAn
Any TeAm in The field hAve whAT iT TAkes To deThrone The chAmps?
The intrigue surrounding this year’s 3A Conference tournament is the same as it has been since all of its participants began playing high school volleyball: Can any team knock off Northwest Christian High School?
Tri-captain Reagan Hope, to be precise. The senior middle and outside hitter is not just a six-foot, two-inch-tall head coach’s daughter. She is 18th in the state in kills and second in the 3A conference in aces--av- eraging nearly one ace per every set she has played this fall. Hope also leads the conference in kill percentage, successfully converting 51 percent of her attempts.
For the 15 other rivals to that top seed’s quest for its third straight state championship, which begins Saturday, Nov. 14, in Tempe against No. 16 seed Sabino in Marcos de Niza High School’s main gym, that plot has thickened into the query: Can any team win a set against the Crusaders?
Her setter on most of those 216 kills is the second of the Crusaders’ three captains, senior Molly Kipp, the 3A Conference’s assist leader. Kipp needs just nine more assists beginning at 3 p.m. Nov. 14 to reach 400
on the season and join the top 20 in Arizona. Like senior outside hitter McKenzie Wise, Kipp is just shy of six feet tall herself.
Only North Central Region runner-up Valley Christian High School, in its first set of a home match Oct. 6, was able to pull that off this fall, and the Crusaders responded to the four-point loss with two four-point wins and a 25-23 game of endurance that would prove to be the closest they would come to a tiebreaker since an Oct. 24, 2019...five-set loss at Scottsdale Christian Academy.
Also a tri-captain, Wise is no slouch in the kill column herself, fin- ishing just outside of the top 10 in 3A with 139 kills. Senior Jillian Swartz rounds out the Crusaders’ kill leaders with 25, just outside the Top 20 in the region.
However, the Eagles--the only non-tournament team to have defeated Northwest Christian since head coach Jenna Hope’s debut with the Crusaders, five seasons ago--are no longer in 3A.
Just as integral to the Crusaders’ two consecutive state titles has been libero Emma Harmeyer, who rotates in to serve about every six side outs. Harmeyer is second on the team in assists with 65, and tied for third in aces with 24.
Valley Christian, in an Oct. 21 return date with its North Central Region rival, took the Crusaders as far as 24 and 26 points, respectively, in their second and third sets, but could not convert at game point.
Harmeyer is also sixth on the team in digs this fall with 36, trailing fellow senior Jadeyn Shaw, who has 75 along the back line--still a distant fourth behind Kipp, Wise and Hope, however.
The 3A conference’s second seed this fall, Snowflake High School, couldn’t hit 20 points in any of its three home sets against the Crusaders as the Lobos suffered their season’s only setback Sept. 24.
In just her second season as well is Kierstyn Barton, who has already established herself as team leader in blocks with 21, among the top 35 in 3A in that category even though she has no set position. Barton, Hope and Wise are all among the Top 15 hitters in
What remains to fuel the dreams of 16 teams--analyzed, with over- all and region record, in order of seeding below--of hoisting the 3A state title trophy after 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, is a common element that, for one final fall, Northwest Christian arguably still has more of than any other team: Hope.
the conference.
Off the bench, sophomore Jessica Jacoby had 22 assists this fall,
and freshman surprise Taylor Vandertoorn’s 11 aces have also merited her playing time in virtually every set.
Two-time defending champ Northwest Christian is 51-1 against 3A teams since 2018. (Mark Jones photo/MaxPreps)