MV netters pound out 46 kills in three-set win over Ganado

BURNSIDE, Ariz.

Monument Valley senior Tehya Yazzie recorded her 1,000th kill during the Nike Tournament of Champions over the weekend.

On Monday night, Yazzie displayed her prowess by pounding out 19 kills against the Ganado Lady Hornets in a 3A North Region contest. The set scores were 25-21, 28-26, 25-23 as MV improved to 18-10 overall and 3-0 in region play.

“It’s definitely my teammates,” said Yazzie, who was set to be honored during last night’s (Wednesday) home game with Window Rock. “I give them a lot of the credit because without them I wouldn’t have that many kills. And when I’m in the moment, I can keep playing and playing.”

In addition to Yazzie, the Mustangs also received nine kills each from junior Tahnee Yazzie and sophomore Blu Peterman as MV racked up 46 kills.

Ganado, meanwhile, finished with 22 kills. More than half of those winners came from sophomore middle hitter Danika Dalgai as she put down 13 kills.

Despite being outhit by 24 kills, the Hornets (11-11, 0-3) kept the match close by playing some outstanding defense.

“I really like the way the girls played, compared to our last two matches,” longtime Ganado coach Jerome Burns said. “The girls came through against one of the top teams in the land. It’s good to know that we can be close; we’re right there so I think we got to go back and work on some stuff.”

Monument Valley head coach Rennell Gilmore acknowledged Ganado’s knack for covering their side of the net on the defensive end.

“Ganado always does a very good job playing defense,” Gilmore said. “We weren’t used to them getting everything up, but they always done a good job of doing that.”

In the opening set, MV used a 6-1 run to open a 16-9 cushion with Tehya lining a pair of kills in the back row. The Mustangs later reached the 20-point plateau after another Tehya kill.

The Hornets, however, didn’t go way as Ganado pulled within 20-17 following an ace by junior setter Shaundiin Dixon.

After that, the two teams traded side outs, as MV won 25-21 behind a dozen kills and six service aces.

In the next set, Ganado started off strong by taking a 4-1 lead after Dalgai’s winner. Nonetheless, MV erased that deficit during a 7-0 rally in the middle of the set as Tehya scored five of those points off kills for a 14-11 Mustang advantage.

Ganado had an answer though, as they tied the game at 15-all behind a pair nicely place hits by Dalgai. There were four more ties (17-all, 18-all, 20-all, and 21-all) before Ganado pulled ahead at 24-22 following a kill by senior middle hitter Kassidy Watchman (five kills) and a service ace from senior Connie Burns.

The Hornets, however, couldn’t get quite get over the hump as MV tied the set for the sixth time after an ace by senior libero Kamron Seackuku at 24-all.

With neither team refusing to lose, the set was tied two more times before MV put down back-to-back kills from middle hitter Peyton Begay and Tahnee Yazzie for a 28-26 win.

“That’s something we talked about as we got done with the (Nike) tournament,” Gilmore said when asked about their mental toughness. “It really plays into the match because there were times during the tournament over the weekend that we barely lost by two points.

“We just had to apply it and obviously it played a role because the sets were pretty close tonight,” she added.

The Gilmore-coached team were looking to score a runaway win in the third set with an 8-0 cushion. Most of those points came off their aggressive net play headed by Tehya as she pulverized Ganado’s defense with four kills.

Despite some mini rallies from the Hornets, the Mustangs were able to maintain the lead for most of the set. Ganado, however, tied the game four times with the last one coming at 22-all following a Mustang hitting error.

MV then capped the match on a 3-1 run behind three kills, including the game winner by Tehya.

“We didn’t play our ‘A-game’ but I have to give Ganado credit,” the MV senior said. “They were pretty scrappy but it’s something that we can work on, which is to play at our level. We just got to keeping putting down the ball.”

The three-set region win on Monday capped a strenuous four-day stretch for MV as the Mustangs played seven matches at the Nike tournament on Friday and Saturday.

“It was a really good tournament for us,” Gilmore said. “We played a lot of competitive teams from around the country like New England, California, and some bigger teams in Arizona so it was a good one.

“We enjoyed it, and it was a long weekend,” she added. “It’s unfortunate that we already had a game on Monday.”

Tehya says there were some key takeaways from the tournament they played as the Mustangs placed fourth in the silver bracket of the 32-team Premier bracket.

“I think we learned a lot by going to a big tournament like that, especially playing the bigger teams,” Tehya said. “It just got us prepared for our region games and it prepared us for the state tournament.

We have younger girls, too, so it’s going to get them ready for next year.”

 

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