(Mesa, AZ) The Pima Community College volleyball team (12-7, 5-3 in ACCAC) produced a comeback victory on Friday in its ACCAC conference match at Mesa Community College (11-13, 5-4).
After dropping the third set, the Aztecs rallied to win the fourth and fifth set tiebreaker to down the Thunderbirds (26-24, 21-25, 11-25, 25-18, 15-9). The Aztecs and the Thunderbirds split the regular season meetings as Mesa won in straight sets at the West Campus Aztec Gymnasium on Sept. 11.
The Aztecs and the Thunderbirds were tied at 4-4 in the tiebreaker when Pima took advantage of some Mesa miscues to score four straight points and go up 8-4. The Thunderbirds came back with three straight to make it 8-7, but the Aztecs took over, going on a 7-2 run to finish off the comeback. Fetsis had a kill and an ace while Page had a pair of kills during the final run. Gilvin put down the final kill to seal the win.
There were nine ties and five lead changes in the first set as the Aztecs led by as much as four points when freshman Estelle Fetsis’ (Pusch Ridge Christian) ace put Pima up 15-11. The Thunderbirds took a pair of one-point leads and held set point at 24-23. The Aztecs scored the final three points to steal the first set after freshman Alexis Ferbeyre’s (Pusch Ridge Christian) ace and freshman Skylar Westburg’s block gave them a 1-0 lead.
The Aztecs surrendered the first eight points of the second set, but sophomore Addison Gilvin (Sahuarita HS) helped spark a rally with three kills and a block for Pima points. Ferbeyre’s ace and freshman Victoria Page’s kill tied it at 12-12. With the score tied at 17-17, the Thunderbirds scored four straight points and went on to tie it up at 1-1.
The third set got away from the Aztecs as Mesa scored 12 of the first 14 points to take a double-digit lead. Mesa led by as much as 14 points and took the third set by the same margin as Pima found themselves trailing 2-1.
The Aztecs regrouped and won the first three points of the fourth set and maintained a slim lead for much of the set. Mesa tied the score at 13-13, but the Aztecs scored six of the next seven points to go up 19-14. Gilvin, Westburg and sophomore Alexia Hutchens (Salpointe Catholic HS) produced kills during that stretch and sophomore Breeze Schelter had an ace to cap the run. Gilvin and Hutchens scored the final four Pima points in the set to tie it up and force the tiebreaker.
Hutchens finished with 10 kills and three blocks while Westburg and Gilvin each posted nine kills. Gilvin added two blocks.
Schelter with a double-double of 20 assists and 12 digs while sophomore Alexandra Jacome (Canyon del Oro HS) closed out the match with 22 assists and two aces. Freshman Leah Stoneking (Catalina Foothills HS) had 19 digs and two aces.
The Aztecs return to the West Campus Aztec Gymnasium on Wednesday when they host Scottsdale Community College. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.
Press Release courtesy of Pima Aztec Athletics – Raymond Suarez
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