Area teams square off in scrimmage, prep for Window Rock tourney

FORT DEFIANCE

Ahead of this week’s 5th Annual Lady Scouts Volleyball Invitational, several local teams worked on their skills set and team strategies at last week’s volleyball scrimmage hosted by Window Rock High School.

Six teams took part in the one-day scrimmage at the Bee Hółdzil Fighting Scouts Events Center in Fort Defiance with Hopi, Rock Point, St. Michael, Valley Sanders, Wingate and Window Rock taking part last week on Wednesday. Those teams are scheduled to play in the 11-team Window Rock tournament that starts on Friday.

“We kind of brought a mesh-mash of players that could see action on our varsity team,” longtime Hopi coach Eva Bahnimptewa said. “All these girls have potential and as coaches we’re trying to get a feel of what combination works.”

St. Michael coach Reynalda Terry agreed.

“This kind of shows us where we’re at as far as defense and what we need to work on,” Terry said. “We’re still trying to tweak our offense because some of our outside hitters and setters are interchangeable, so this scrimmage will help solidify what we want to see in our lineups.”

Here is a summary of what to expect from five of the six squads.

Hopi

The Lady Bruins has a mixture of veterans and new players that makeup this year’s roster. Bahnimptewa is hoping to mesh them together as Hopi is looking to earn some wins this season.

“We have a big freshmen team, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what they can do,” Bahnimptewa said. “I want to see what they can offer the team.

“We’re trying to have our senior players step into that leadership role,” she added. “We’re trying to get everything going because we didn’t have a summer program. We’re trying to get as much games as we can before we get into competition.”

Bahnimptewa says they have some work to do as Hopi returns four veterans – Akayla Austin, Melelani Honwikvaya and Miahlynn Polacca – from last year’s team that finished 5-21 overall and 3-7 in 2A North play.

“I just want them to come together and just be more confident with their play,” Bahnimptewa said of her expectations.

“We don’t have any elementary program for them, so the first time they see a volleyball court is when the get to the middle school level,” she said. “We’re like five years behind everybody, so we’re trying to catchup with everybody else.”

Rock Point

After a one-year hiatus, Rock Point coach Kyle Arthur takes over the reins of the Lady Cougar volleyball program. Last year, he took on a new position at the BIE school, so he had to make a difficult to step away as longtime basketball coach Andrew Reed headed the volleyball team last year. Under Reed, the Cougars made the Arizona Interscholastic Association 1A playoffs.

“I’m glad that coach Reed stepped in to coach the girls,” said Arthur, who was placed on a 90-day probationary period during last year’s volleyball season.

Rock Point returns a handful of veterans that finished 14-12 overall and 10-2 in 1A North play. The top returners include juniors Pepper Pete and Aiyana Becenti.

“We do have a lot of returners and the only piece we need to place is the new players coming in,” Arthur said. “I think once we do that, we’ll build a foundation for this team.

“I didn’t get a chance to see them play last year, so I’m getting to know them a little more,” he added.

Under his tutelage, Rock Point won back-to-back state crowns in 2021 and 2022. During that cycle, the Cougars were blessed with some height.

“I just want them to compete,” Arthur said of his expectations for the team. “Every player on this team has potential. They just have to find it themselves to play with each other because when it comes to tough games, it’s going to come down to them having the will to fight.

“We don’t have the height like we used to, so we have to find other ways to be effective whether it be serving or defense,” Arthur said. “Again, it’s a matter of finding our strengths.”

During last week’s scrimmage, Arthur identified a couple of things that he would like his team to shore up.

“I think the biggest thing we have to fix is our serve-receive,” the Rock Point coach said. “Our serve-receive is not where it needs to be at and we kind of saw that with Window Rock.

St. Michael

St. Michael went 16-12 and 8-3 in 1A North play last season, which included a berth to the 1A state playoffs. The Lady Cardinals is hoping to duplicate that feat again despite losing six seniors. Of those six, four were varsity players.

“That’s basically almost the entire lineup of the court,” Terry said of the players she graduated.

“This year we’re actually heavy with seniors, which is a good thing,” the St. Michael coach said. “We have some juniors returning and we have some freshmen that have come up and they’re actually stepping up on our varsity team.”

The list of returners includes seniors Chanelle Hale, Leonna Slim, and Sariah Lopez. The junior class is headed by Hayden Roan and Dru Garcia. Terry has added freshman Alana Yazzie to the varsity team.

“We’ve only had two weeks of practice and our girls are coming back strong,” Terry said. “I’ve seen them improved. We just have to get them to work cohesively and get that team dynamic down.”

Valley

Second-year Valley coach Kayla Phillips says there is nothing but excitement and optimism coming from the Lady Pirate volleyball program.

“We really didn’t lose that much last year,” Phillips said. “We only graduated two seniors and most of my players are seniors now.”

Her senior class includes veteran players Elianna Swatts, Khloe Pusher, Madison Francis and Nizhoni Roan.

Phillips has added three additional players to her varsity squad and she’s hoping that her veterans will speed them up to par.

At last week’s scrimmage, Phillips saw a lot of good things from her team, especially when they played Window Rock that featured some long rallies.

“We had a good match with them,” she said. “I have a lot of confidence in my girls, and I loved how they played. We love the rallies and that is what keeps them going. It really opens them up because my team is quiet.”

In addition to the positives that she saw, Phillips says there are areas that need some finetuning.

“Most of it is communication,” she said. “I need to break them out of that shell. But if we have good rallies like we did with Window Rock, my girls got loud, and they were talking.”

Serve-receive is another area that needs some work, she says.

“Sometimes we’ll have a hard time with that,” Phillips said. “With Rock Point, they killed us with serve-receive. I think most of that was because we’re still trying to fit in the new players, you know, just trying to get a hint of where they’re going to be at.”

Wingate

First-year Wingate coach Marjean Benally is looking to continue to rebuild the Lady Bears volleyball program. Last year, she served as an assistant to then-coach Melody West.

“We had seven seniors that graduated so we’re trying to regroup,” Benally said. “We have some juniors and a couple of seniors, so we’re kind of like a young team. We need to find that chemistry but I’m excited about the kids we have.”

The players that have varsity experience include juniors Earon Benally, Nasia Bernal and Kayshel Ramone and senior Randiwa Tsosie. The sophomore class is made up of Megan Blackgoat and Rayleen Joe.

“Those guys were on varsity last year,” Benally said.

Last season, Wingate compiled a 4-15 overall record, including a 4-8 mark in District 1-3A, finishing fifth in the seven-team district.

“I hope to finish in the middle (of the pack), maybe a little higher,” Benally said. “I want us to finish higher than last year.”

As for the scrimmage, Benally was pleased with how her team played.

“I was pretty impressed with what they did,” she said. “We still have to work through some things like defense and communication but we’re working on that.

“I’m looking forward to see how we do this season,” she added. “I have a good team, so I’m very optimistic.”

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