St. Michael sees progress playing in competitive tourneys
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero St. Michael Lady Cardinal Delila Nakaidinae, right, hits the ball over defending Lady Hornet Autumn Begay Saturday in Kayenta.
KAYENTA
The regular season schedule for the St. Michael volleyball team included two tournaments and the Lady Cardinals added a third this past weekend, as the Lady Cardinals were a late entrant to the Kayenta Township MV Mustang Volleyball Invitational.
Being invited to this competitive tournament was something they couldn’t pass up. It’s a good thing they didn’t as they finished third in their pool with a 9-3 record, which included a split with Tuba City.
“I thought we did pretty well,” St. Micheal coach Andrea Ashkie said. “We rose to the challenge. It was affirmation for our girls and our team since we played with some really good teams, especially around the rez and in the state.”
The Cardinals dropped a 2-0 decision to Phoenix Greenway but they defeated St. Johns, Chinle, Shiprock and Pinon in straight sets in pool play action.
With that, St. Michael played host Monument Valley in the opening round of bracket play and after losing to the Lady Mustangs they faced Ganado in a rematch.
The Cardinals defeated Ganado before they were eliminated from the tournament by Page in the next round.
“This was a good competitive tournament for us,” Ashkie said. “It’s going to help us grow overall and I was proud of the way the girls stepped up.”
Ashkie said they did not know what to expect coming into this tournament since they were the lone Class 1A school that was invited.
“We just had the mindset to play and compete hard,” she said. “Being the only small school there we used that as motivation.”
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Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow