The fourth time proved to be the charm for the Sky Pointe boys volleyball team.

After losing in the Class 4A state semifinals each of the last three seasons, the Eagles have made it to the final game for the first time as a member of the 4A classification.

Sky Pointe, the Sky League’s No. 1 seed, swept Desert League champion Mojave in three sets 25-22, 25-15, 25-19 Monday night at Sky Pointe in a 4A state semifinal.

“This is a team that everybody kind of underestimated. Physically we’re undersized, not a ton of our players play for big club (teams), but at the end of the day, we’re a brotherhood,” Sky Pointe coach Emma Sproule said. “This is a solid (group) of 14 (players) who work really hard day in and day out.”

Sky Pointe (21-13) will play Desert Oasis — a 27-25, 25-22, 25-16 winner over Liberty in the other state semifinal Monday — at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Sunrise Mountain High School for the 4A title.

“It feels fantastic because the last three years we made it to the semifinals. Every time, we lost in the semifinals,” Sky Pointe junior middle blocker Brad Rappleye said. “But now we finally broke the curse and made it through.”

Sky Pointe won the 2018 3A title and was the 3A runner-up in 2019. The Eagles lost in five sets last year to eventual state champion Basic in the semifinals.

On Monday, things were shaping up to be another tightly contested contest between the two league champions during a back-and-forth first set. The Eagles pulled through for the opening set win behind three consecutive kills from Tucker Jenkins to secure the set win.

Sproule said she saw the confidence of winning the first set radiate toward the rest of the match for her players.

“We told them (at the start of the year), ‘We just need you guys to be sponges and absorb all that we’re going to give you,” Sproule said. “It’s going to be a lot of information and there’s going to be a time when you need to apply it and tonight was the time to apply it.

“I’m really proud of the team that showed up tonight. The team that won was well deserved.”

Sky Pointe went on a 7-1 run in the middle of the second set to build its lead and roll to the set win. In the third set, Mojave didn’t go away, but the Eagles capitalized on several Mojave (28-10) service errors and completed the sweep in front of a packed home gym.

“We played as a team,” junior starting libero Dallas Hashimoto said. “We rarely have games where we’re all really in sync like that. It just felt really good it played out like that.”

Jenkins had 10 kills for Sky Pointe and Rappleye, who was named the 4A Sky League player of the year, added eight kills and three blocks. Kaleb Law led Mojave with 10 kills.

Sky Pointe defeated Mojave in five sets in the regular season on March 9, and the Rattlers had a two-set win in a tournament on March 28.

No. 1M Desert Oasis 3, No. 1L Liberty 0: At Desert Oasis, Jacob Wienke racked up 11 kills, eight digs and four blocks as the Diamondbacks (22-9) rolled to a 27-25, 25-22, 25-16 semifinal victory over the Patriots (20-11) after prevailing in an extended opening set.

Jaiden Alarcon added 14 assists and seven digs for Desert Oasis, and teammate Carson Lampkin had 15 digs. Desert Oasis won the 2022 4A title in its only apperance in a boys volleyball title game.

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X. Review-Journal reporter Jeff Wollard contributed to this report.

Grant’s Monday Night Forecast

Temperatures will heat up across New Mexico through Tuesday, with near-record highs possible in parts of the state. Highs cool slightly starting Wednesday, with a few spotty showers possible later this week.

High pressure is building toward New Mexico to start the week, bringing hotter temperatures statewide. The center of that high will move over the state Tuesday, making it the hottest day of the week. Highs will climb into the 80s and 90s for most areas, with several spots coming within a few degrees of tying or breaking daily record highs.

The high starts to weaken Wednesday, but temperatures will only cool by a few degrees. Moisture will also begin streaming into New Mexico, bringing more cloud cover and a chance for a few spotty showers or areas of evaporating rain, mainly across northern New Mexico. By Thursday, that spotty rain chance shifts into eastern New Mexico.

Temperatures will stay above average to well above average through the end of the week and into the weekend, with most highs remaining in the 80s and 90s. Afternoon breezes will also stick around most days over the next week.

CENTRAL OREGON (KTVZ) — New rules approved by Oregon regulators aimed at how utilities charge large energy users are expected to have implications beyond Portland General Electric, including for Central Oregon customers served by Pacific Power.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission approved changes allowing Portland General Electric to charge higher rates to large energy users such as data centers. The goal is to ensure those customers pay for the cost of expanding the power grid, rather than shifting those costs onto smaller or household ratepayers.

The move comes after six consecutive years of rate increases for Oregon customers, driven in part by what PGE describes as an unprecedented rise in electricity demand, with data centers as a major factor.

Under the new rules, large energy use facilities must pay 100% of the cost to expand distribution systems needed to serve them. They must also use at least 90% of their contracted power capacity, with requirements for contract lengths and penalties for exceeding usage or exiting early.

The rules define large energy users as facilities capable of drawing more than 20 megawatts of power at a time. A separate category for “very large loads” — those exceeding 100 megawatts — includes a 1 cent per kilowatt-hour surcharge, with funds going toward reducing energy burden for vulnerable customers.

The order also includes a queue system to ensure new large users can only connect when enough zero-emission energy is available to meet demand under House Bill 2021.

While the decision directly applies to PGE, Pacific Power is proposing a similar approach for customers in Central Oregon.

PacifiCorp exclusively sent a statement to KTVZ News, saying utilities have seen a growing number of extremely large new load requests in recent years, requiring significant investments in transmission and generation infrastructure.

The company has filed a proposed tariff with the Oregon Public Utility Commission under House Bill 3546 to create a new rate schedule for “New Large Energy Use Facilities.” Under the proposal, large energy users such as data centers would be required to cover the costs of infrastructure upgrades needed to serve them.

PacifiCorp said the approach would allow the utility to meet the needs of large energy users while continuing to invest in infrastructure and protecting affordability for other customer classes.

PGE has until June 3 to file a new pricing system to implement the order, which would take effect June 10. The utility is also required to begin annual reporting on large energy users starting June 1, 2027.