Gilbert’s boys volleyball earned its second consecutive spot in the Division I state championship match, and a bigger cheer inside the sportsmanship spotlight.

Brophy Invitational

It has taken four years, personal tragedy and plenty of hard work, but Mesa Westwood looks primed for a run this boys volleyball season after winning the Wolf Howl tournament Saturday at Chandler High School.

Boys volleyball state tournament outlook

Highland is the one elite boys volleyball team which doesn’t compete in the preseason Wolf Howl Invitational at Chandler, so while the other programs could size each other up early, the Hawks were a bit of a wild card.

The first boys volleyball tournament of the season gets underway today in Chandler with eight teams, some of which should have a say come the postseason.

I thought living in the West was the ideal place to be. All the beautiful landscapes, mountains, openness and wildlife I could possibly want to see. Unfortunately, I was betrayed. What was supposed to be the picture of beauty is now a picture of destruction among her dying landscape.

Vee Hiapo is apologetic about the expectations thrust upon her players the moment they enter the Highland boys volleyball program.

Mountain Pointe struck first by winning this past weekend’s Chandler Wolf Howl Invitational, but the boys volleyball season is just beginning to ramp up.

Athlete of the week: Brandon Barna - The Phoenix Mountain Pointe senior helped lead the Pride to a championship in the Chandler Wolf Howl Invitational last weekend, getting 10 kills in the title match over Gilbert and earning all-tournament honors.

March 8, 2005

If Jake Wekell has any say, Arizona boys volleyball is about to get a little more respect.

It’s hard to find a time when Gilbert Mesquite boys volleyball player Zach Usevitch does not have a smile on his face. On Tuesday night, he had every reason to keep it there.

Between Marmaduke and now Alpha and Omega I'm officially starting to get fed up with movies in which four-legged animals dance. Exactly what do filmmakers find so appealing about dogs and wolves prancing around on their two back legs? Is it supposed to be funny or charming? Having cute penguins tap dance is one thing. But there's something I find unbearably grotesque about quadruped animals doing the foxtrot, even in the universe of animation. Alpha and Omega has so many needless dancing sequences that the film could have been called Dances with Wolves.

Between Marmaduke and now Alpha and Omega I'm officially starting to get fed up with movies in which four-legged animals dance. Exactly what do filmmakers find so appealing about dogs and wolves prancing around on their two back legs? Is it supposed to be funny or charming? Having cute penguins tap dance is one thing. But there's something I find unbearably grotesque about quadruped animals doing the foxtrot, even in the universe of animation. Alpha and Omega has so many needless dancing sequences that the film could have been called Dances with Wolves.

Schedule: First and second rounds are Saturday at site of top-8 seed; Quarterfinals are Tuesday at higher seed; Semifinals are Thursday at Gilbert H.S.; Championship match is May 12 at 7 p.m. at Gilbert H.S.

The hazy boys volleyball picture may become clearer this weekend.

Betty the elephant, Quackers the ducks and a Howling Wolf will soon make room for a new permanent resident in downtown Mesa.

Brilliantly cast and ambitious to beat the band, “Cadillac Records” is a little movie that aims big. It tries to capture nothing less than the moment when white culture embraced black music and rock 'n’ roll was born.

Fred Mann was pleasantly surprised and excited about the way the Mountain Pointe boys volleyball team opened the season.

Fred Mann was pleasantly surprised and excited about the way the Mountain Pointe boys volleyball team opened the season.

When Desert Vista boys volleyball coach Ryan Tolman saw Brett Sevy go to the front line, he didn’t like his team’s chances.