By james art After a shocking start to the season that proved to be a wake-up call for the team, Reno High hit the road and lifted the top seed for the regional volleyball playoffs
The Class 5A-North tournament begins Monday with higher seeds for quarterfinal games.
Reno is the top seed and has a bye into the quarterfinals, as does No. 2 seed Bishop Manogh. The Huskies will host the semifinals on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and, if they win, will host the regional championship at noon on Saturday, Nov. 2.
The top six teams from the regular season qualify for the regional.
In Monday’s quarterfinals, No. 6 McQueen will play No. 3 Galena and No. 5 Carson will play No. 4 Special Springs, both at 6 p.m.
The McQueen-Galena winner plays in Manogue at 6 p.m. Wednesday, and the Carson-Spanish Springs winner is in Reno, also at 6 p.m. Wednesday
Galena beat Reno 3-1 in the season opener on Aug. 20.
Reno senior Lily Houston said the loss to the Grizzlies helped ignite the Huskies.
“It kind of helped us by lighting a fire under us,” she said. “It was like, ‘Okay, guys, we know we’re better than this, so we used that as motivation for the rest of the season.’
The Huskies then received more motivation when they lost to Bishop Manogh 3-2 on September 23rd. That was their last loss, and they’ve won six straight since then, compiling a 13-2 league record (17-7 overall).
Houston said the Huskies aren’t done yet. Spanish Springs is the defending regional champion after defeating Reno in the championship last year, and the Huskies are looking to reclaim that title.
“We definitely have a lot of work to do if we want to finish the season the way we set our goals,” Houston said.
Reno senior Bhavi Patil said the loss to Galena was exciting.
“We realized we couldn’t just do the bare minimum and expect to win,” Patil said. “We tried to figure out the responsibilities and how to take care of each other.”
The 5A state tournament is set for Nov. 8-9 in Spanish Springs.
The Class 3A-North Regional begins Monday at higher seeds, then concludes in Fallon on Nov. 1-2. Truckee is 9-0 and in first place, followed by South Tahoe (8-1) and North Valleys (6-4).
The Class 2A-North Regional is Nov. 1-2 at Incline. Pershing County is in first place at 17-0, followed by Yerington (14-4), North Tahoe (13-4) and Incline (12-4).
The Class 1A-West Regional is Nov. 2 in Virginia City. Smith Valley is in first place (11-0), followed by Coleville (9-2) and Pyramid Lake (7-4).