(Tucson, AZ) The Pima Community College volleyball team (7-12, 3-5 in ACCAC) played a tough match against Mesa Community College (17-6, 9-0) on Friday in an ACCAC conference contest.
The Aztecs fell short of handing the No. 9 ranked Thunderbirds their first conference loss as Pima fell in five sets (15-25, 25-18, 15-25, 25-18, 15-9).
Down 5-4 in the first set, the Aztecs scored seven straight points as sophomore Maggie McReynolds (Mountain View HS) had two kills and two aces in that stretch to give Pima an 11-5 advantage. They maintained their lead, but Mesa slowly gained momentum, cutting it to 16-13. The Aztecs scored another six straight as McReynolds put down a pair of kills and freshman Addison Gilvin (Sahuarita HS) had two blocks for points at the net to make it 22-13. Gilvin had a kill that made it 24-14 as the Aztecs took a 1-0 lead.
The Thunderbirds established a lead in the second set with four straight points to make it 13-8 but sophomore Kendall Snyder (Canyon del Oro HS) stopped the run with her kill. McReynolds, Gilvin and freshman Breeze Schelter had three straight kills to cut it to 19-17. Mesa came out of the timeout and scored six of the final seven points to tie the match at 1-1.
The Aztecs grabbed an early lead in the third set as sophomore Julia Baird scored back-to-back points with a kill and an ace. Up 12-9, Pima scored four straight to create some breathing room at 16-9. Later, Baird and McReynolds had three straight kills to put the score at 19-11 as the Aztecs took a 2-1 lead.
The Thunderbirds had a response of their own as they won the first point of the fourth set and led the rest of the way. The Aztecs got as close as four points at 16-12 but Mesa scored five of the next six to force a tiebreaker.
Mesa scored five of the first six points of tie-breaking set as the Aztecs struggled to deal with their serve. Baird and McReynolds helped the Aztecs close the gap with their kills to make it 6-5 but the Thunderbirds scored five straight to put it at 11-5. Freshman Alexia Hutchens (Salpointe Catholic HS) and Snyder had back-to-back kills to cut the deficit to 11-7 but that’s as close as they would get.
McReynolds led the Aztecs with a team-high 16 kills to go with 11 digs and four aces.
Baird closed out the match with seven kills and two aces while Hutchens and Snyder each contributed with six kills. Gilvin had five kills and three blocks.
Baird posted 20 assists, two kills and one ace while sophomore Julia Weatherbie (Mountain View HS) finished with 15 assists and two kills. Freshman Rickki Hernandez (Mountain Ridge HS) had 15 digs.
The Aztecs are back on the road on Wednesday when they play at No. 19 ranked Scottsdale Community College in an ACCAC conference match. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.
Press Release courtesy of Pima Aztec Athletics – Raymond Suarez
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