Arizona Division V volleyball
Red Mesa, Shonto Prep falls short in opening round
By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times
PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz., Nov. 8, 2013
(Times photo - Donovan Quintero)
Monument Valley Lady Mustang Ohiyah Shirley (8) hits the ball over the net against a defending Cactus Lady Cobra defender Friday night in Prescott Valley, Ariz. The Lady Mustangs were defeated by Cactus, 3-2, and were eliminated from the playoffs.
The Lady Red Skins gave No. 2 seed Desert Christian a scare at the Arizona Division V state volleyball tournament on Friday at Tim’s Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, Ariz.
The private Tucson school defeated Red Mesa 25-21, 25-21, 25-16.
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow but I am very proud of these girls,” Red Mesa coach Henrietta Haven said of her squad. “We showed that we’re not a (No.) 15 team.”
In the opening game, the Redskins tied the game at 21-all before a service error killed their momentum as the Desert Christian Eagles closed out the game on a 4-0 run.
In the second, Red Mesa went toe-to-toe with the Eagles and tied the game for the eighth and final time at 17-17. But on the next point, a hitting error gave the serve back to Desert Christian.
The Eagles finished off the set with an 8-4 rally thanks to three errors from Red Mesa.
“It seemed like the momentum was in our favor when we would tie it up,” Haven said. “But when we went back out there, we (made) an error.
“If we played error free I think we could have came away with a win,” she added.
In the upper half of the Division V bracket, the Shonto Prep Grizzlies could not find any momentum as they dropped a 25-13, 25-17, 25-15 decision to Glendale Prep.
“Even though we have enough talent we couldn’t come out strong enough,” Shonto Prep coach Merle Beard said. “We had some good rallies going but we just couldn’t get anything going. We came up short but we’ll be back."
In other tournament news, the Monument Valley Mustangs and Tuba City Warriors advanced into the second round of the Division III tournament.
The Mustangs took care of Holbrook in straight sets 25-19, 25-11, 25-22 while No. 7 seed Tuba City came back from an 0-1 deficit and defeated Phoenix Greenway 16-26, 25-16, 25-19, 25-20.
Both teams are scheduled to play their quarterfinal matches on Friday at 8 p.m. with No. 4 seed Monument Valley squaring off with Glendale Cactus, the tournament’s No. 5 seed.
In a rematch of last year’s finals, Tuba City will play No. 2 seed Safford with the winners moving into Saturday’s semifinal round.