(Tucson, AZ) The Pima Community College volleyball team (6-5, 3-1 in ACCAC) got back on track on Friday against Mesa Community College (1-5, 1-5).
The No. 19 ranked Aztecs earned a straight set win over the Thunderbirds 25-23, 25-19, 25-21.
In a back and forth first set, the Aztecs broke a 14-14 tie with three straight points for their biggest lead at 17-14. The Aztecs’ biggest lead was three points on two other occasions and Mesa’s biggest lead was two points during the set. Up 23-22, the Aztecs scored the final two points as sophomore Jessica Bright-Schade (Safford HSD) put down the final kill to give Pima an early advantage in the match.
The second set was close to start with. Tied 6-6, the Aztecs scored seven of the next nine points to take a 13-8 lead capped off by sophomore Haley Duncan’s (Walden Grove HS) kill. The Thunderbirds tightened up Pima’s lead by scoring the next three points to make it 13-11. The Aztecs held a slim advantage but Mesa came back and put Pima behind at 19-18. The Aztecs scored the final seven points of the set to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Aztecs took an early lead in the third set but Mesa came back and took one-point advantages on six different occasions but the Aztecs never fell into a bigger deficit than that. Tied at 17-17, sophomore Deanna Almaguer had two straight kills and sophomore Andrea Vigil-German (Ironwood Ridge HS) had another kill to put the Aztecs up 20-17. The Aztecs led 23-18 when sophomore Karla Soto (Nogales HS) put one down.
Vigil-German and Bright-Schade each finished with 13 kills. Bright-Schade also had 10 digs for a double-double. Almaguer had eight kills and Duncan finished with six kills.
Sophomore Aydalis Felix (Rincon HS) had 24 digs while Soto closed out the match with 19 assists and six digs. Sophomore Isabella Jacome posted 17 assists and six digs.
The Aztecs will play a make-up match (from August 25) when they host South Mountain Community College on Tuesday at the West Campus Aztec Gymnasium. First serve is at 7:00 p.m.
Press Release courtesy of Pima Athletics – Raymond Suarez
