The Centennial Bulldogs will face off against the Cheyenne Desert Shields at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.
Centennial is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Nevada's top teams: Sierra Vista, who was ranked 12th at the time (Centennial was ranked fourth). The Bulldogs came out on top in a nail-biter against the Mountain Lions on Tuesday, sneaking past 3-2. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Bulldogs have posted since March 22nd.
Centennial wouldn't go down easily and took Sierra Vista into a fifth set where they got it done with a four-point win. The final score came out to 22-25, 25-19, 25-23, 23-25, 15-11.
RJ Regalado
| 04/08/25 vs Sierra Vista | 2 |
| 04/05/25 vs Arbor View | 1 |
| 04/05/25 vs Boulder City | 1 |
| 04/05/25 vs Coral Academy of Science Las Vegas | 1 |
| 04/05/25 vs Sweetwater | 2 |
Centennial's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but RJ Regalado led the charge by getting 25 assists and two aces. What's more, Regalado posted two digs, the most he's had over his last five matches. Another player making a difference was Josh Wagner, who had ten digs and two aces.
Regalado wasn't the only good server: Centennial was lethal from the service line and finished the game with ten aces. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Sierra Vista only served three aces.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Cheyenne, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-2 win over Mater Academy East Las Vegas on Thursday. The Desert Shields haven't had any issues with the Knights recently, as the game was their third consecutive victory against them.
Cheyenne was actually outscored in aggregate across those five sets (106-102), but they still managed to win. The match finished with set scores of 25-22, 21-25, 16-25, 25-23, 15-11.
Cheyenne's win bumped their record up to 2-21. As for Centennial, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won nine of their last ten games. That's provided a nice bump to their 21-8 record this season.
Centennial beat Cheyenne 2-0 when the teams last played back in March. Will the Bulldogs repeat their success, or do the Desert Shields have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
