Lady Cougars make top seed work for the win

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.

For a team that’s never played in a Final Four, the Rock Point Lady Cougars didn’t disappoint.

The Cougars stayed composed as they made top-seeded Mogollon sweat in the semifinals of the Arizona 1A state volleyball tournament.

Rock Point gave the Lady Mustangs all they could handle before dropping a 25-18, 25-22, 25-22 decision at Coronado High last Saturday afternoon.

“The girls are a little bummed but overall we played great,” Rock Point coach JoAnne John said. “The girls played at a high level and they stepped it up. They were in sync.”

With her team matching Mogollon’s intensity the first-year coach sensed some frustration from the other team.

“You could see that and the girls tried to take advantage of their errors,” John said.

All the sets played were pretty tight but the Mustangs used a couple of late runs to pull away.

In the opening set, the fourth-seeded Cougars erased a four-point deficit and got as close as 18-17 following a pair of kills from junior outside hitter Tierra John.

A service error by Rock Point, however, got Mogollon going as they finished out the set on a 7-1 run with junior middle hitter Isabella Horn and senior outside hitter Tyra Parry combining for five kills.

Mogollon carried some of that momentum over into the next set as it built an early 4-1 cushion.

The Mustangs increased that margin to 8-4 on a hard spike from Horn but a stuff block from Rock Point middle hitter Tamira John shifted the momentum the other way.

The Cougars responded with a 7-1 run with Tierra John serving in a couple of aces for an 11-9 advantage.

That two-point edge was short-lived as Mogollon took a 19-15 lead following a 10-4 stretch where Rock Point had five unforced errors, including three double-contact calls from sophomore setter Shelby Chee.

Those errors didn’t deter the Cougars as they mounted a rally. Rock Point got the serve back with a kill from Tamira John and she then served in four straight points, which included a pair of aces, that tied the set at 19-all.

Mogollon did gain a slight 23-20 edge but Rock Point made things interesting by pulling within a point with junior Rylisha Begay putting down a kill and freshman Arianna Begay tossing in a service ace.

Unfortunately for the Cougars, Mogollon scored the last two points to go up 2-0 in sets.

The third set featured nine ties with Mogollon breaking the last one (22-22) on a 3-0 run, which included a pair of aces from Horn, who had her serves roll off a pair of Rock Point players.

“We’ve worked on that in practice,” coach JoAnne John said. “We’ve worked on how to get in position to get those floaters up. We just didn’t move to the ball.”

The first-year coach said that’s not the way they wanted to end their season but she is encouraged with what’s to come next season, as Rock Point will lose only three players to graduation.

“We’re psyched for next season,” she said. “We’re already planning on doing some offseason stuff right after the basketball season. The girls need to continue working on getting better and we’re going to get into playing some tournaments.”

The seniors set to graduate are Adara Harrison, Kiara Yazzie and Caitlyn Yazzie with the latter being a second-year starter.

Going into the state tournament, JoAnne John was hoping her squad would be opposite Mogollon and, perhaps, play them in the championship game rather than the semis.

Nonetheless, she was happy that her team got as far as they did.

“We had a great season,” she said. “From the start we were kind of getting that team concept going but we ended our season here in the Final Four. I’m just proud of how we stayed together as a team.”

“This year we got pretty close of playing in the championship game so I’m real proud of my team,” Tamira John said. “This is the first time (Rock Point) has come this far in the tournament.”

With what they have returning, the Rock Point middle hitter said they are looking forward to next year’s state tournament.

“We know what to expect and we know what we have to work on,” she said, while noting that their Final Four run is going to make them hungrier for next season.

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