(Tucson, AZ) The Pima Community College volleyball team (11-11, 8-5 in ACCAC) dropped its third straight match on Friday as it hosted Glendale Community College (14-4, 10-3) at the West Campus Aztec Gymnasium.
The Aztecs lost three tightly contested sets to the No. 22 ranked Gauchos 25-23, 27-25, 26-24. Pima has lost three straight matches: all to NJCAA Division II nationally ranked teams.
The Aztecs trailed early in the first set as they went down by five points at 12-7 but scored seven of the next nine to tie it at 14-14. Sophomore Haylee Gilleland (Flagstaff HS) had a block at the net for a point and freshman Addy Fisher’s (Queen Creek HS) ace tied it up. With the score again tied at 16-16, Gilleland had two straight kills to put the Aztecs ahead at 18-16. Pima was up 22-19 but the Gauchos tied it with three straight points. The teams exchanged the next two points, but Glendale scored the final two to take the first set.
The Gauchos took the lead to open play in the second set. Down 9-5, the Aztecs scored eight of the next 10 points. Sophomore Kenna Simon had a kill and freshman Maggie McReynolds (Mountain View HS) followed with an ace as Pima took a 13-11 advantage. The Aztecs held their biggest lead at 20-15. Pima was up 23-20 but Glendale scored three straight to tie it up at 23-23. A net-serve gave the Aztecs set-point at 24-23 but Glendale scored the next two points to make it set-point in their advantage. The Aztecs tied it at 25-25 but Glendale closed it out with the final two points to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Aztecs took a small lead to begin the third set but were forced to play catch-up for much of it. They trailed by as much as five points at 18-13. Down 21-17, the Aztecs rallied to tie it. Two aces from freshman Julia Weatherbie (Mountain View HS) sparked the comeback as Pima tied it at 21-21. Pima went ahead 23-22. The Gauchos scored the next two for match-point but Gilleland’s kill tied it at 24-24. Glendale scored the next two points to end the match.
Gilleland closed it out with a team-high 15 kills to go with three blocks. Simon had eight kills and one block while Fisher posted three aces.
The Aztecs will hit the road for their next two ACCAC Division II conference contests. They play at Phoenix College on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
Press Release courtesy of Pima Aztec Athletics – Raymond Suarez
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