Chinle overcomes adversity

MANY FARMS, Ariz.

Like an unwanted guest, the Chinle Lady Wildcats had to confront a few issues on Tuesday night.

In particular, the Wildcats had to work through a rough stretch during the second set of their match with the Many Farms Lady Lobos.

In that set, the Wildcats were out of position so they gave away five points due to rotation errors. For the match, Chinle finished with six
“We have a new rotation,” Chinle coach Alysha Bitsuie said. “I changed it this year and what we have in place has less movement.”

Despite giving away a handful of free points the Wildcats pulled off the sweep with a 25-22, 25-19, 25-17 win.

Chinle outside hitter Montoya Brady said the new rotation is a work in progress and she’s hoping they can fix those errors by the time they start conference play.

“We’re still getting used to it,” she said. “Before we were totally confused and now we’re starting to understand it better.”

The Wildcats made some necessary adjustments to their rotation late in the second set as Cecelia Murray and Brady combined for five kills during a set-ending 9-0 run.

After a close third set, Chinle took care of business and closed out the win by putting away four winners during a 5-0 run.

“I thought we started to execute, especially late in those games,” Bitsuie said. “We were connecting as a team with our passes. And if we have that real good pass my hitters can put it down.”

Bitsuie felt that her middle hitters came through and she credited Elysa Harwood for taking charge and directing traffic.

Many Farms coach Tulene James said they played Chinle tough but they had a handful of minor mental lapses late in the game. During those critical moments, the Lobos were caught flat-footed as Chinle pounded a few kills.

“I thought we did pretty good but we have to finish strong,” James said.

“I have to get ourselves back up and get back that momentum.”

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