Girls volleyball player of the yearΒ
Name:Β Mallorey JamesΒ
School:Β Salpointe CatholicΒ
Year in school:Β SeniorΒ
Sport:Β Girls volleyballΒ
From the archives:Β Forgive Salpointe Catholic's Alicia Akporiaye for what happened to her in the Lancers' 15-10, 15-11 loss to Scottsdale Horizon in the second round of the 5A state tournament. She's just not used to it.
Akporiaye unleashed countless kill attempts that were rejected back to the Lancer side of the net by the Huskies' Dina Debernardi, Marissa Taryle and Mariko Crum, putting a damper on any consistent Salpointe scoring barrage.
"We just didn't play one of our stronger games," said Salpointe's Mallorey James. "And Horizon deserves credit because they are a great team and they beat us."
But it wasn't for James' lack of effort. The senior, who has committed to play next season at the University of Miami (Fla.), finished with team highs in kills (12), blocks (two) and also registered 14 digs to keep the Lancers (21-3) in both games until the end.
Horizon (35-9), the second-ranked team in the state and now responsible for two of Salpointe's losses, always seemed to have its players in the right place at the right time.
That, coupled with Jennifer Wagon's 30 assists and Debernardi's 10 kills and five blocks, proved to be the shot in the arm the Huskies needed to escape with a big road win.
James said Horizon's resounding success in the blocking department was unexpected. β Danny Van Klaveren, 2000
