MV hammers down 55 kills in four-set win over Lady Scouts: Mustangs earns top seed for regional tournament

FORT DEFIANCE

Despite a slight hiccup, the Monument Valley Mustangs left Fort Defiance with a four-set win over Window Rock on Monday night.

In doing so, the Mustangs (15-2, 10-0 in 3A North Region) spoiled Window Rock’s Senior Night as six Lady Scout players were recognized. The players that were honored include Mia Etsitty, Winnter Gibney, Kourtney Bitselley, Allyson Emerson, Samira White and Caitlyn James.

“Obviously, it’s all mental at this point,” MV coach Rennell Gilmore said following her teams’ 25-18, 19-25, 25-16, 25-23 win.

The longtime MV coach attributed her team’s performance on Monday to mental factors related to their schedule.

“We had a game on Saturday with one day off and then a game on a Monday,” she said. “The last three times that’s happened, we didn’t play well on a Monday, and it definitely showed again.”

Still, the regular season 3A North Region champs had enough firepower to handcuff Window Rock as MV finished with 55 kills while the Scouts tallied 30. MV senior Tehya Yazzie nearly matched Window Rock’s total with 25 kills while her younger sister, Tahnee, added 13. The Mustangs also received nine winners from junior middle hitter Peyton Begay.

“Our setter is pretty good about moving the ball around,” Gilmore said of senior Hailey Etsitty. “That’s something we worked on all season. So, you know, now we’re getting our chance to capitalize on everybody that comes up to the net.”

Behind seven hitters, the Mustangs capitalized on several blistering hits and a handful of nicely placed dinks that kept Window Rock on its toes.

“It starts with a good pass,” Etsitty said. “Even with a bad pass, I gotta set it up for my hitters. But with a good pass, we have to go all out, and we got to take advantage of that as much as we can.”

After trailing 14-11 in the first set, the Mustangs used an 11-1 run to change the tenor of the match as they put down eight winners, which included six kills from Tehya Yazzie for a 21-15 cushion.

With the momentum, MV added two more kills as Begay ended the first set with the team’s 17th kill.

In a near mirror image of the first set, the Scouts staked a 14-11 advantage in the middle of the second. This time though, Window Rock maintained its lead behind some strong net play from Bitselley and White. The two players combined for seven kills, helping Window Rock to 25-19 win.

But in a quick turnaround, the Mustangs regrouped and opened a 9-1 advantage in the third set behind some strong hitting from Tehya Yazzie as she had four kills during that stretch.

Window Rock closed that deficit down to five points on three separate occasions. Nonetheless, MV capped the third set on 10-6 run with Begay putting away two kills while adding a stuff block for a 25-16 win.

“Obviously, we responded really well, but we kind of lost the momentum after we got that big lead,” Gilmore said.

In the fourth, the two teams traded blows as the final set featured 10 ties with MV putting down 15 kills while the Scouts countered with a dozen kills for its best showing of the night.

Late in the set, Window Rock scored two straight points for the game’s final tie at 23-all. MV, however, finished off the Scouts by getting a kill each from sisters Tehya and Tahnee Yazzie.

“We didn’t want to go five sets,” Etsitty said. “Even though it was close, we kept our heads up and we pushed through for each point.”

Although they came up short, Window Rock coach Ashley Mitchell liked the progress from her team as the Scouts played without senior setter Allyson Emerson for the 11th straight match.

“Honestly, this kind of feeds into their hunger a little bit more,” Mitchell said of pushing MV to four sets. “And it helps in their belief, too, because once we lost our main setter their belief in themselves went down. This gives them confidence, especially our underclassmen knowing that they can play at this level with our seniors.”

Mitchell noted that her club is regaining their trust and confidence as the Scouts are looking to make a deep run in the 3A North Region tournament that starts today.

As the third seed, Window Rock hosts No. 6 Chinle at 4 p.m. while No. 4 Ganado entertains No. 5 Page at 5 p.m. The winners will move into Saturday’s semifinals as the regional tournament shifts to Tuba City High School.

The top-seeded Mustangs will take on the survivor of the Ganado-Page matchup while No. 2 seed Tuba City plays the winner of the Window Rock-Chinle matchup.

“I’m comfortable with the third seed, but I believe we should have been the two (seed) because we’ve been having our off games against Tuba,” she said. “But honestly, I believe in these girls, and I know they can pull off anything.”

The two finalists of the 3A North tournament will make at least the 3A Play-In game for the state playoffs. In Tuesday’s Arizona Interscholastic Association statewide rankings, Monument Valley was ranked No. 5 followed by Tuba City at No. 14, Ganado at No. 21, Window Rock at No. 22, Page at No. 28, and Chinle at No. 32.

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