Window Rock netters advance to Sweet Sixteen

FORT DEFIANCE – Aggressive serving and playing smart volleyball were keys for the Window Rock Lady Scouts on Tuesday night.

Window Rock advanced into the 16-team portion of the Arizona Interscholastic Association 3A volleyball playoffs with a 3-0 sweep over Empire at the Bee Hó?dzil Events Center in Fort Defiance.

The set scores were 25-11, 26-24 and 25-16.

“I think this is great,” Window Rock coach Ashley Mitchell said of advancing. “Last year, we were the ninth seed and we lost in this round. The girls were on a mission knowing that Window Rock hasn’t made the Sweet Sixteen in a long time, so this is a big accomplishment for our program.

“I’m just so proud of them for continuing to trust the process, and being able to stay locked in,” Mitchell added.

In other 3A playoff action, Chinle, Ganado and Tuba City made long trips to the higher seeded teams only to fall short.

Chinle, the 24th seed, extended No. 9 Safford to four sets. No. 22 Tuba City also went four sets with No. 11 American Leadership Academy-West Foothills while 19th seed Ganado was swept by No. 14 Tanque Verde.

In Fort Defiance, the 16th-seeded Scouts put away 28 kills and served across 15 aces against the Lady Ravens, which earned the No. 17 seed.

Senior Devae Willie led Window Rock’s attack with 11 kills while junior Kourtney Bitselley added eight as the two hitters kept Empire’s defense guessing on where they were going to place the ball.

And while they’re capable of putting the ball away, the duo added some finesse with some nicely placed tips that went down as winners.

“Playing smart is always gonna get us on top,” Bitselley said. “That is what we always talk about. We can put it away, but we always try to find those holes, so it’s really about playing smarter, not harder.”

In the service department, libero Mia Stefaniak led the Scouts with seven aces while Bitselley chipped in five.

Bitselley served across three of those service winners during an 8-0 run in the opening sets as Window Rock erased a 5-1 deficit and led 9-5.

Later in the set, Bitselley got a spike attempt past two Empire defenders for an 18-9 cushion. The Scouts finished off the set with a 5-0 scoring spurt, which included two aces from Stefaniak for a 25-11 win.

“Coach likes us to spot serve and we always practice that,” Bitselley said of getting six freebies in the opening set. “It’s become an important factor in our game. It’s become one of our main specialties.”

Unlike the opening game, the second set had more drama as it featured 12 ties and 11 lead changes. The Scouts were the first to reach the 20-point plateau with a dink kill from outside hitter Kayomii Cowboy as that point broke a 19-19 tie.

But on the ensuing serve, Empire tied the contest for the eighth time with a big kill from sophomore middle hitter Avngeline Holmes.

The match was tied three more times at 22-all, 23-all and 24-all before Window Rock scored the last two points thanks to a hitting error by Empire and a service ace from Stefaniak.

After a three-minute break, the Scouts picked up where they left off and led 11-2 in the third set. Despite some mini-rallies from Empire, the margin stayed the same as Window Rock completed the sweep with a 25-16 win.

“The girls are playing with a lot of confidence, so we were able to finish out the game strong,” Mitchell said.

With all the top-seeded teams advancing on Tuesday night, the AIA will not be reseeding the 16-team state bracket as the tournament will resume on Saturday at Millennium High School in Goodyear, Arizona.

As the 16th seed, Window Rock takes on top-seeded Valley Christian at 11 a.m. Earlier this year the Valley Christian swept Window Rock in straight sets.

“I think we should have been seeded higher, but we’ll see how things go on Saturday,” Mitchell said.

Monument Valley, the 3A North regular season champion, is also playing on Saturday as the Mustangs earned the fourth seed.

MV plays No. 13 Benjamin Franklin at 3 p.m. Last season, the Mustangs beat Benjamin Franklin in the state quarterfinals in four sets.

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