Sky Pointe sweeps Mojave, to play Desert Oasis for 4A volleyball title — PHOTOS

The fourth time proved to be the charm for the Sky Pointe boys volleyball team.

After losing in the Class 4A state semifinals each of the last three seasons, the Eagles have made it to the final game for the first time as a member of the 4A classification.

Sky Pointe, the Sky League’s No. 1 seed, swept Desert League champion Mojave in three sets 25-22, 25-15, 25-19 Monday night at Sky Pointe in a 4A state semifinal.

“This is a team that everybody kind of underestimated. Physically we’re undersized, not a ton of our players play for big club (teams), but at the end of the day, we’re a brotherhood,” Sky Pointe coach Emma Sproule said. “This is a solid (group) of 14 (players) who work really hard day in and day out.”

Sky Pointe (21-13) will play Desert Oasis — a 27-25, 25-22, 25-16 winner over Liberty in the other state semifinal Monday — at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Sunrise Mountain High School for the 4A title.

“It feels fantastic because the last three years we made it to the semifinals. Every time, we lost in the semifinals,” Sky Pointe junior middle blocker Brad Rappleye said. “But now we finally broke the curse and made it through.”

Sky Pointe won the 2018 3A title and was the 3A runner-up in 2019. The Eagles lost in five sets last year to eventual state champion Basic in the semifinals.

On Monday, things were shaping up to be another tightly contested contest between the two league champions during a back-and-forth first set. The Eagles pulled through for the opening set win behind three consecutive kills from Tucker Jenkins to secure the set win.

Sproule said she saw the confidence of winning the first set radiate toward the rest of the match for her players.

“We told them (at the start of the year), ‘We just need you guys to be sponges and absorb all that we’re going to give you,” Sproule said. “It’s going to be a lot of information and there’s going to be a time when you need to apply it and tonight was the time to apply it.

“I’m really proud of the team that showed up tonight. The team that won was well deserved.”

Sky Pointe went on a 7-1 run in the middle of the second set to build its lead and roll to the set win. In the third set, Mojave didn’t go away, but the Eagles capitalized on several Mojave (28-10) service errors and completed the sweep in front of a packed home gym.

“We played as a team,” junior starting libero Dallas Hashimoto said. “We rarely have games where we’re all really in sync like that. It just felt really good it played out like that.”

Jenkins had 10 kills for Sky Pointe and Rappleye, who was named the 4A Sky League player of the year, added eight kills and three blocks. Kaleb Law led Mojave with 10 kills.

Sky Pointe defeated Mojave in five sets in the regular season on March 9, and the Rattlers had a two-set win in a tournament on March 28.

No. 1M Desert Oasis 3, No. 1L Liberty 0: At Desert Oasis, Jacob Wienke racked up 11 kills, eight digs and four blocks as the Diamondbacks (22-9) rolled to a 27-25, 25-22, 25-16 semifinal victory over the Patriots (20-11) after prevailing in an extended opening set.

Jaiden Alarcon added 14 assists and seven digs for Desert Oasis, and teammate Carson Lampkin had 15 digs. Desert Oasis won the 2022 4A title in its only apperance in a boys volleyball title game.