(Glendale, AZ) The Pima Community College volleyball team (16-13) opened play in the Region I, Division II Tournament on Thursday at Glendale Community College.
The No. 3 seeded Aztecs rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the match but fell in the tiebreaker to No. 2 seeded Scottsdale Community College 27-25, 25-19, 19-25, 20-25, 15-13. The Aztecs will play an elimination match on Friday morning.
The Aztecs faced their biggest deficit at 19-14 in the first set but got back into it with four straight points with kills from sophomore Elli Meinke (Ironwood Ridge HS), freshman Maggie McReynolds (Mountain View HS) and sophomore Kenna Simon. Freshman Addy Fisher (Queen Creek HS) put down an ace as Pima tied it up at 20-20after scoring six of seven points. The score was even on four more occasions before the Artichokes claimed the first set. There were 10 ties and five lead changes in the opening game.
The Aztecs won the first point in the second set, but they wouldn’t lead again. With the score tied at 10-10, the Artichokes went on a 14-7 run as Pima faced their biggest deficit of the match at 24-17. Freshman Julia Baird had a kill on the next point and sophomore Taylor Crawford (Ironwood Ridge HS) had an ace, but they couldn’t get any closer as Scottsdale took a 2-0 lead.
Pima held the lead for much of the third set maintaining a three-to-five point advantage for much of the set. Sophomore Haylee Gilleland (Flagstaff HS) kept Pima ahead. Up 19-16, she scored four of the final six points as their biggest lead came at 23-17. The Aztecs got on the board but still trailed 2-1 in the match.
The Artichokes took an 8-6 lead in the fourth set, but the Aztecs rallied off five straight points as McReynolds capped off the run with an ace to make it 11-8. Scottsdale put together a 10-4 run to reclaim the lead at 18-15. The Aztecs tied it up at 18-18 after a kill from Simon and two from McReynolds. Scottsdale won the ensuing point, but their lead didn’t last long as the Aztecs followed with six straight points. Gilleland had two kills and McReynolds had two aces in that stretch as Pima forced a tie-breaking set.
The fifth set was tied at 4-4 but the Aztecs scored four straight points to pull ahead at 8-4 after a kill from Crawford. Pima led 9-5 but the Artichokes went on to score five straight to take a 10-9 lead. Gilleland put down a kill to tie it up, but Scottsdale scored the next two points and would not relinquish the lead again.
Gilleland and McReynolds each produced a double-doubles in kills and digs. Gilleland finished with a team-high 16 kills and 15 digs while McReynolds had 10 kills and 13 digs to go with four aces and two blocks.
Meinke was also in double figures in kills as she posted 11 for the match. She also had three aces.
Sophomore Jasmin Joseph (Tanque Verde HS) finished with 33 digs and one ace.
Crawford fell short of a double-double with 32 assists and nine digs to go with four kills. Freshman Julia Weatherbie (Mountain View HS) added 14 assists.
The Aztecs will play an elimination match against No. 1 seed Glendale Community College on Friday at 11:00 a.m. All matches at the Region I, Division II Tournament are played at Glendale Community College.
Press Release courtesy of Pima Aztec Athletics- Raymond Suarez
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