Basha VB goes on road to sweep Highland

October 9, 2014 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Basha volleyball coach Terri Spann wasn't all that pleased with her team's performance Thursday night.

Still a sweep is a sweep and the Lady Bears interrupted fall break to produce a 25-20, 25-21, 25-18 victor over the Lady Hawks in a Division I match at Highland High.

Basha improved its overall record to 18-8 and is 9-2 in power-ranking matches and entered play at No. 7 in the power-rankings. Thursday's match was the only one Basha played this week. They had a grueling two days last weekend competing in Gilbert's Invitational with the likes of Xavier, Hamilton, Desert Vista, Gilbert, Corona del Sol, Mountain Pointe and Horizon. That may have played in to the way Spann felt  her team played.

"That was one of our worst matches this year," Spann said. "I thought we were lethargic..... We gained a lot of confidence the way we played last weekend."

Basha controlled play virtually throughout the match as a sweep would normally indicate. Highland managed to stay close the first two sets at the halfway point of each, but Basha was able to make a four- or five-point run that  Highland could now conjure up during the match.

"We never could get over the hump," Highland assistant coach Darren Ashment said. "They're good. They're big. A tough team."

Highland (15-11 overall, 4-5 prm) had a two-point lead twice in the entie match -- two intervals early in the second set. Other than that Basha spread the ball around on the attack, which doesn't always happen.

"Usually it's Justin (Spann) and Alexa (Johnson)," Terri Spann said. "We distributed the ball well.  That helped and was good to see."

Justine Spann led Basha with 10 kiills while Johnson Yasamin Motlagh and Morgan Soto added six kills apiece. Highland wasn't able to do much damage save one attacker the Lady Bears didn't have an answer for.

Junior outside hitter Ally Eylers led all players with 14 kills and added 11 digs. Terri Spann made lineup changes prior to the second set to try to slow Eylers, but Eylers managed to find the floor despite a bigger block. Trystyn Moser had 9 kills and Sienna Sawyer six for Highland.