Millennium led 13-7 in the fifth and final game of the 5A Conference volleyball championship game.

Even with eight championships victories to her name, Sunnyslope coach Amber LeTarte believed it was over for her team.

“I was kind of looking at the scoreboard thinking, ‘Dang it. Dang it. We are done,’” she said.

LeTarte is likely glad she was wrong.

Her team somehow rallied to win the game and the match 15-25, 25-21, 25-18, 14-25, 16-14 against defending champ Millennium Tuesday at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe. What an incredible way for Sunnyslope to win its 9th volleyball crown.

“It didn’t look like we had fight in us,” said LeTarte about how her team started the final game. “And (Millennium) looked like they were on and everything was clicking. And then (Sunnyslope) turned it around.”

LeTarte’s daughter, Blayke, a senior captain, served six times, picking on the same player and spot, to help her team tie the match at 13-13.

But Millennium got to championship point first after a Sunnyslope outside hitter hit the ball out.

But junior Avery Kronholm then came up with the block of the match. Millenium, down 2-1 in sets, won the fourth game behind its leader on the outside, Jordan Miller, who had 12 kills in the final two games.

Miller was about to add the exclamation point to her outstanding performance and close out the match with her 24th kill but Kronholm blocked her on the outside to tie the 5th game at 14-14.

It was the junior’s only solo block of the match.

“I just remembered what my coaches told me, ‘Just line up with her and just face her (Miller),’” Kronholm said.

A Millennium hitting error and a kill attempt off the left pin were all Sunnyslope needed to celebrate at the end and complete the improbable rally.

The final game was a microcosm of Sunnyslope’s season, LeTarte said.

The team was dealt a big blow when the “heart and soul” of the program, captain Maddie Shepston, was lost early in the season to an ACL injury. The team struggled at times without her but eventually found its footing.

But it wasn’t until Sunnyslope (28-12) defeated Horizon in the quarterfinals that LeTarte truly felt that her team had a chance to win it all. LeTarte’s team didn’t hit well Tuesday, but, like it did during the second half of the season, it dug itself out of trouble when it seemed Millennium had the title won.

Millennium (35-9) had all the momentum in the world after closing the 4th game on a 16-3 run and kept rolling to start the fifth game. But Blayke’s serving (4 aces) and setting (27 assists) helped lead the comeback.

Laylah Daniel (12 kills, 17 digs) and Sam Leight (10 kills) also played well during key moments in the match.

The championship victory was a family affair for the LeTartes.

Blayke’s father, Brandon, the girls varsity basketball coach at Sunnyslope, is also the varsity volleyball team’s assistant. Brooke, Sunnyslope’s junior varsity volleyball coach, is also Brandon and Amber’s daughter and also won a championship as a player at Sunnsylope.

“It’s been great for us as a family,” Brandon said, “to all be part of the same program and the tradition of Sunnyslope High School.”

Final stats. 

(L-R) Broke, Amber, Blayke and Brandon LeTarte brought home another championship trophy. Photo by Jose Garcia/azpreps365.com.