Payson Invitational
Tuba City senior Adriane Begay gets ready to set the ball on Saturday in Payson, Ariz., against Chandler Seton Catholic. (Donovan Quintero | Navajo Times)
Tuba City netters overcome sluggish start to make quarterfinals
PAYSON, Ariz.
In hindsight, there was nothing spectacular for Harlan Barlow to write home about on the opening day of the Payson Invitational.
For the most part, his Tuba City volleyball squad was out of sync as they finished third in pool play behind Arizona Lutheran and Estrella Foothills.
With that, the Lady Warriors entered bracket play as the No. 12 seed on the final day of the two-day tournament. Needless to say, they were still trying to find their way as they opened that portion of the tournament with a two-set loss to No. 5 seed Bradshaw Mountain.
“I don’t know what it was but we made a lot of mistakes,” Barlow said of their initial play during the 20-team invite. “Most of it was hitting and serving errors and I think during pool play we had a service error in almost every rotation.”
But after that disheartening loss to Bradshaw Mountain, the Warriors roared back to life. Tuba City defeated St. Johns, Window Rock and Page in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals in the loser’s bracket.
And although they were eliminated, the Warriors did give Division II powerhouse Seton Catholic fits before losing 25-20 and 25-22.
“I’m happy with where we finished,” Barlow said, while adding that he shuffled his rotation for much of the tournament.
“We tried several rotations and it took us awhile to figure out what girls mesh with each other,” he said. “Going into the tournament we didn’t have a set lineup but this is why I like this tournament. It gives us a chance to figure out what we need to do.”
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Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow