Girls’ Volleyball: Durango tournament highlights

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Mira Costa has another Durango tournament championship, thanks to another MVP setter, and the Mustangs continue to prove they are a team to contend with despite the graduation of former standout Alix Klineman and the retirement of Dae Lea Aldrich as coach.

Senior setter Kendall Bateman, who has committed to USC, was selected most valuable player while leading the Mustangs over the weekend to their second Durango Fall Classic title in a row and their third in four years in Las Vegas.

Mira Costa, the top-ranked team in the country, according to PrepVolleyball.com, met Louisville (Ky.) Assumption in the tournament final for the third consecutive year and won, 25-18, 25-19, on Saturday to end the two-day, 32-team event.

The Mustangs defeated Assumption in three games last season, were runners-up to the Rockets in 2005, and won the title over Los Alamitos in 2004.

Bateman, who took over as the Mustangs’ setter last season and was an all-tournament selection then, matched the performances of former Mira Costa standout Taylor Carico, the current USC setter, who was the tournament MVP while leading the Mustangs to the title in 2004 and was an all-tournament pick when they were the runners-up in 2005.

Bateman was named MVP after collecting 192 assists, 19 kills, 32 digs, six blocks and five aces in the three rounds of pool play and four bracket-play matches Friday and Saturday. She had 33 assists, six digs, three blocks and two aces in the final match.

‘She was consistent throughout and kept the flow of the game going,’ said Mira Costa first-year Coach Lisa Zimmerman, a former pro beach player. ‘She just has really taken over the team and has built a lot of trust with the hitters. She’s done a good job.’

The Mustangs also got 13 kills, three digs and two blocks by 6-3 sophomore right-side hitter Falyn Fonoimoana and eight kills and seven digs from 5-10 senior Lane Carico, Taylor Carico’s sister, in the final match. Carico has committed to Miami.

Both players were named to the all-tournament team after Fonoimoana recorded 81 kills, 41 digs and nine blocks overall, and Carico had 30 kills, 58 digs and three blocks.

Those players are the usual suspects, statistically, for the Mustangs, but there were others who contributed to the title, annually considered among the most prestigious in high school volleyball.

Pauline Acres, a 6-1 middle blocker, had five kills in the final and finished the tournament with an impressive .487 hitting percentage. Senior libero Lauren Law, a one-time AAU age-group beach volleyball player of the year, had 11 digs against Assumption and finished with 73 for the tournament. Sheridan Taylor, a 5-11 sophomore middle blocker, had two kills and two blocks in the title match.

The next-best performance by a team from the Southland was fifth-place finisher Newport Harbor, which had senior middle blocker Alex Penewll and senior setter Alesha Young on the all-tournament team.

Redondo, which placed eighth last year, moved up to a sixth-place finish this season, with Santa Margarita finishing eighth to round out the top division. The Sea Hawks had senior middle blocker Taylor Moore and senior outside hitter Megan Saraceno on the all-tournament team, and Santa Margarita senior defensive specialist Steph Siranni also made it.

Lakewood won the Silver Division final, finishing in ninth place overall, ahead of Long Beach Wilson, Los Alamitos, Long Beach Poly and Marymount, respectively, in the 10th-13th places.

South Torrance, which finished 27th among 32 teams last year, was the Bronze Division winner this time in 16th place. Rim of the World wound up at No. 23.

- Lauren Peterson