Historic win: Team nets school’s first volleyball state title

The Boulder City High School boys volleyball team won its first state championship in school history, defeating Eldorado 3-0 on Saturday, May 22, ending a perfect 13-0 season.

“I have never coached a group of boys who have improved so much from the beginning to the end of the season,” head coach Rachelle Huxford said. “They set their sights on being in the championship game at the beginning of the season and I threw it out there as a challenge for them.

“This is just a testament to how hard this group has worked to get better.”

Able to hang a championship banner just five years since its inception as a program, the Eagles left no doubt this postseason that they were the best team, defeating Eldorado 25-9, 25-22, 25-20 in the championship match.

Playing three postseason games, the Eagles also dominated Moapa Valley 25-7, 25-9, 25-15 and Sunrise Mountain 25-22, 25-16, 24-6.

Battling back and forth with the Sun Devils in the finals, the Eagles cruised to a win in the first set, before finding themselves down by 5 points, 19-14, in the second set.

After mustering up a comeback in the second set, the Eagles came out resilient in the third set, closing the Sun Devils out in three sets for a clean sweep of the season.

“The boys wanted to finish the season without dropping a set,” Huxford said. “Eldorado came out and challenged us and it was great to see how they handled adversity. They came in after that second set after being down for a while and were determined to finish strong.”

Leading the way for the Eagles were junior Kannon Rose, who generated 14 kills with nine digs defensively and four serving aces, and sophomore Tyler Lemmel, who added eight kills. Junior Kenny Rose dished out 35 assists with eight digs, and sophomore Gavin Kesler added seven kills and three blocks.

Against Moapa Valley, Kannon Rose rallied 13 kills and seven digs, Lemmel added 10 kills and two blocks and Kenny Rose dished out 29 assists with 11 aces.

Against Sunrise Mountain, Kannon Rose had 14 kills and nine digs and Lemmel added eight kills. Kesler and senior Toby Schaper each added seven kills. Kenny Rose had 36 assists with eight digs and four aces.

This year’s Eagles team featured a young core hungry for more. Without going into talks of a potential dynasty looming, Huxford expressed her excitement for the future of her program.

“The sky is the limit for this group,” she said. “We’re a really young team and I can see us being a force to be reckoned with for the next few seasons. This is a great group of boys and I’m excited to see where this goes.”

Contact Robert Vendettoli at BCRsports@gmail.com.