Teams taste postseason at Snowflake Invite

SNOWFLAKE, Ariz.

The Gold bracket of the Snowflake Invitational had the hallmarks of a postseason tournament.

A lot of the coaches touted the competitiveness of the bracket by insisting anyone can beat anyone.

The Monument Valley Lady Mustangs and the Tuba City Lady Warriors won their respective pools while the Window Rock Lady Scouts finished second and advanced to the aforementioned bracket.

Of the three teams, Monument Valley came up one game short of making the championship game at last Saturday’s 16-team invite.

After winning their first two games in bracket play the Mustangs played tournament host Snowflake in the semifinals.

MV pushed the Lady Lobos to three sets before falling 25-22, 25-23, 15-7, sending the Mustangs into the elimination bracket against Class 5A Gilbert Mesquite.

The Mesquite Lady Wildcats eliminated MV from further play by netting a 25-22, 25-22 win in the best of three match.

“This is all about progress,” MV coach Rennell Gilmore said. “We’re getting ready for the rest of the season by playing these type of games.”

On their side of the bracket, Tuba City beat Blue Ridge in straight sets before they succumbed to Snowflake 25-18, 25-16.

In the elimination bracket the Warriors pushed Mesquite to three games before falling 25-15, 23-25, 15-11.

In the second set, Tuba City closed it out on a 3-0 run with sophomore middle hitter Jayda Chee putting down two of her 10 kills while junior Krishauna Riggs added a block.

In the third set, both teams traded side outs in the middle of the set, as they were three ties with the final one coming at 11-11 on a tip winner by sophomore Gracie Henderson.

Unfortunately, Mesquite scored the last four points and eliminated Tuba City.

“We couldn’t get anything going until the second game,” Tuba City coach Harlan Barlow said. “The third game we knew we had it but we just made a few mental errors here and there. It happens and that is where we learn. We’ll get better.”

---