MV netters rally past Chinle in marathon match

KAYENTA – The Monument Valley Lady Mustangs showed its true grit on Tuesday night.

The Mustangs were on the brink of being swept by the Chinle Lady Wildcats as errors played a significant role in the outcome of the match.

Despite trailing, MV rallied to upend the upset-minded Wildcats with a 23-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-8, 15-9 win in a big 3A North showdown as both teams entered the contest ranked in the top 10 in Tuesday’s Arizona Interscholastic Association statewide polls.

“I’m very proud of them,” longtime MV volleyball coach Rennell Gilmore said of her fifth ranked team. “They were able to stick it out mentally and they were able to lean on each other to get the job done. It just proves that we can do it no matter what team is on that side of the net.

“We did struggle at the beginning, but we were able to finish strong,” she added.

The stars were not aligned for the Mustangs at the start of Tuesday’s game as they opened the first set with 10 errors. In the next set they had 14 and in the third they had nine.

They closed out the final two sets with only eight errors.

“I’m glad that we figured it out,” Gilmore said. “If not, we could have been down, but I think that everyone on our team stepped it up. It was team effort.”

After winning the first two sets thanks to MV’s errors, Chinle battled the Mustangs to a tight game in the third.

The game featured nine early ties before MV used a 4-0 scoring run to go up 18-15. The Wildcats got a pair of key blocks from middle blocker Dizhoon White to pull within 21-19.

An ace by teammate Mckensie Honie got them within one before MV pushed its lead to 24-22 on a dink kill from junior opposite Juliet Mitchell and a carrying violation from Chinle.

On the next point, MV was called for a net violation. Nevertheless, the Wildcats gift wrapped the set to the Mustangs with a service error.

“It got really tight and I think mental toughness played a big part in us pulling out the third set out,” Gilmore said. “You know, the team that commits less errors is going to win.”

Chinle coach Francine McCurtain said the 11 third set errors killed the early momentum they had seized.

“We were starting to inch back a little bit,” she said. “You know, they (the Mustangs) were hitting out of bounds, and they were serving out of bounds, but they cleaned it up.

“When they clean it up, you don’t want to see that sometimes because we got the receiving end of that,” she said. “But my girls tried their best and even though we made some mistakes my girls know that they can play a top team like Monument Valley.”

With the momentum, MV put down 17 kills in the fourth for a 25-8 win. Seniors Melanie Kescoli and Kaleilanamaria Maiava did the most damage with six kills each.

“I think we just started to communicate more,” Maiava said of the quick turnaround. “We talked to our setter on where to place the ball and we started to find those open spots.”

The MV middle hitter said they also drew inspiration by winning some of the long rallies.

“Chinle had some good hits and we had to scramble to get those shank balls,” Maiava said. “You know, some of the girls had to sacrifice their bodies and that motivated our team.

“We also wanted to show our fans that we can be great,” she added.

In the deciding set, the Gilmore-coached team opened up a 5-1 lead, but Chinle came right back and tied it 6-all on a MV hitting error.

The Mustangs finished the two-hour marathon by going on a 9-3 run to improve to 16-3 overall and 1-0 in 3A North play.

“We started off slow, but you need to understand that Chinle came in here wanting to beat us,” Gilmore said. “Props to Chinle, they did a real good job. For them to come out strong like that, we need to have better starts.”

At 12-4 overall, the Wildcats showed why they’re one of the top teams in the 3A division. In Tuesday’s ranking they opened at No. 9 in the statewide polls.

“It’s the first time we’ve been ranked that high,” McCurtain said. “We got a lot of games left and we got to make sure that we don’t rest on that. We still got to play Chinle Wildcat volleyball.”

In addition to its high ranking, this was the first time Chinle had a 2-0 set lead over MV. McCurtain said taking the Mustangs to five sets is a testament of how far her team has come.

“I’m looking to more brighter things for our program,” she said. “Our girls did an outstanding job and, you know, we did make some mistakes that we shouldn’t have, but I know we can clean them up.

“This was a good challenge for us, and the girls know where we stand with them,” she added. “We just got to compete like that every night.”

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