Duncan falters during the season finale in Morenci
By Raymundo Frasquillo
STATEWIDE – The No. 10 Fort Thomas Apaches (13-5 seeding, minus 0.2986 rating) headed to the No. 7 Patagonia Lobos (15-3, 3.4462) on Nov. 4. They advanced to the quarterfinals via a 3-1 win and face No. 2 North Phoenix Prep (14-2. 10.4686) for the quarterfinals in Scottsdale on Friday, Nov. 7 at 1 p.m.
The volleyball regular season finale for Greenlee County teams occurred in Wildcat Memorial Gymnasium on Oct. 27. The Jasmine Aguinaga-coached 2A No. 31 Morenci Wildcats (6-9 seeding, minus 2.2566 rating) defeated the 1A No. 19 Kassi Mortensen-coached Duncan Wildkats (8-9, minus 5.8267) in four sets (16-25, 25-27, 25-21, 25-20).
Duncan and Morenci both turned in and inventoried uniforms and equipment, as neither finished high enough in the state rankings to continue playing. Duncan needed to be between No. 1- 16, and Morenci required to be between No. 1- 24, not No. 19 and No. 30, respectively.
1A State Tourney Quarterfinals (Nov. 7)
The Nov. 7 quarterfinals, Nov. 7 semifinals, and the Nov. 8 final will be held on the Scottsdale Desert Mountain campus, 12575 East Via Linda.
Top-seeded Scottsdale Cicero Prep (16-1 seeding, 17.2119 rating) hosts No. 8 Heber Mogollon (11-6, 2.9980), and No. 4 Joseph City (12-5, 4.8718) hosts No. 12 No. 12 Colorado City El Capitan (10-5, minus 1.2600) at 11 a.m. in the upper bracket.
The lower bracket has No. 3 Saint David (13-4, 6.8678) hosting No. 6 Phoenix Great Hearts Anthem (12-5, 3.4643) and No. 2 North Phoenix Prep (14-2. 10.4686) hosting No. 10 Fort Thomas (13-5, minus 0.2986) at 1 p.m.
The quarterfinal winners meet for the semifinals at 3 p.m., and the Nov. 8 final is at 2 p.m.
1A State Tourney First Round (Nov. 4)
The higher seeds hosted the lower seeds on Nov. 4, with two upsets: No. 12 over No. 5 and No. 10 over No. 7.
Advancing in the upper bracket were No. 1 Scottsdale Cicero Prep with a 3-0 (25-4, 25-3, 25-17) win over No. 16 San Simon (10-6, minus 4.1351), No. 8 Heber Mogollon 3-1 (28-30, 25-21, 25-15, 25-23) over No. 9 Saint Michael (16-2, 2.0696), No. 12 Colorado City El Capitan 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-23) over No. 5 Ash Fork (13-3, 4.0698), and No. 4 Joseph City 3-1 (25-22, 14-25, 25-19, 26-24) over No. 13 Williams (9-8, minus 1.8164).
Eliminated in the lower bracket were No. 14 Glendale Desert Heights Prep (8-7, minus 3.5023) 3-0 (25-7, 25-7, 25-18) by No. 3 Saint David, No. 11 Salome (12-5, minus 0.3968) 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-17) by No. 6 Phoenix Great Hearts Anthem, No. 7 Patagonia Lobos (15-3, 3.4462) 3-1 (22-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-23) by No. 10 Fort Thomas, and No. 15 Tucson’s The Gregory School (11-6, minus 4.1318) 3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-9) by No. 2 North Phoenix Prep.
1A No. 10 FORT THOMAS Apaches (minus 0.2986 rating)
Fort Thomas (17-9 overall, 13-5 seeding, 6-1 region) had seeding wins of 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-18) over Valley Lutheran on Sept. 13, 3-0 over Superior on Sept. 9, 3-0 (25-12, 25-10, 25-16) over San Manuel on Sept. 11, 3-1 (25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 25-12) over Duncan on Sept. 16, 3-0 over Hayden on Sept. 23, 3-1 (19-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-14) over Dishchii’bikoh on Sept. 30, 3-0 over Duncan on Oct. 2, 3-0 over 1A South Region Elfrida Valley Union on Oct. 3, 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-16) over Superior on Oct. 7, 3-0 (25-11, 25-22, 25-5) over San Manuel on Oct. 14, 3-0 over Valley Lutheran on Oct. 16, 3-0 over Ray on Oct. 21, and 3-0 over San Simon on Oct. 27. The losses were 0-3 (22-25, 24-26, 15-25) to 2A East Region Pima on Aug. 28, 1-3 (15-25, 15-25, 25-20, 21-25) to 2A East Region San Carlos on Sept. 3, 0-3 (15-25, 14-25, 12-25) to Cicero Prep on Sept. 18, 1-3 (23-25, 20-25, 25-18, 23-25) to 1A Central Region Joseph City on Oct. 23, and 2-3 to Saint David on Oct. 29.
The Darcy Barney-coached Apaches also went 2-2 during the Willcox tourney on Aug. 30 and 1-2 during the Horizon Honors tourney on Sept. 6.
Fort Thomas has a 15-member roster with five seniors, four juniors, one sophomore, and five freshmen. The seniors include Kaylee Benally (12), Treyiah Declay (17), Raeleigh Hawkins (9), Kirah Moses (18), and Jennika Wilson (15); juniors Kelcie Harvey (27), Jamie Johnson (7), Tranessa Jones (19), and Jaysla Longstreet (5); sophomores Maliah Duncan (14); and freshman Taneah Black (14), Carter Hawkins (4), Cadence Olivar (29), Aaliyah Peter (16), and Kailen Titla (21).
The Apaches are competing in the 8-member 1A East Region with the Duncan Wildkats, the Kearny Ray Bearcats, the Phoenix Valley Lutheran Flames, the San Manuel Miners, the Scottsdale Cicero Prep Centurions, the Superior Panthers, and the Winkelman Hayden Lobos.
1A No. 19 DUNCAN Wildkats (minus 5.8267 rating)
Duncan (12-16 overall, 8-9 seeding, 4-3 region) has ranking wins of 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-19) over San Manuel on Sept. 4, 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-12, 25-7) over 1A South Region Elfrida Valley Union on Sept. 11, 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 25-8, 25-22) over Valley Lutheran on Sept. 13, 3-2 (27-25, 24-26, 25-14, 25-13, 15-5) over Superior on Sept. 23, 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-22) over San Manuel on Oct. 9, 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-17) over San Simon on Oct. 15, 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-19) over Hayden on Oct. 21, and 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-19) over Superior on Oct. 23 along with losses of 0-3 (17-25, 23-25, 19-25) to 2A East Region Pima on Aug. 27, 2-3 (17-25, 25-20, 17- 25, 25-11, 14-16) to 1A South Region San Simon on Sept. 2, 1-3 (23-25, 26-24, 22-25, 12-25) to Fort Thomas on Sept. 16, 0-3 (16-25, 7-25, 12-25) to Cicero Prep on Sept. 25, 0-3 to Ray on Sept. 30, 0-3 to Fort Thomas on Oct. 2, 1-3 (5-25, 27-25, 22-25, 7-25) to 2A East Region Willcox on Oct. 6, 1-3 (20-25, 18-25, 25-17, 19-25) to 2A South Region San Carlos on Oct. 7, and 1-3 (16-25, 27-25, 21-25, 20-25) to 2A South Region Morenci on Oct. 27.
The Kassi Mortensen-coached Wildkats also went 0-6 during the 2-day Payson on Aug. 29-30 and 4-1 during the San Simon tourney on Oct. 18.
Duncan has a 24-member roster with seven seniors, seven juniors, two sophomores, and eight freshmen. The seniors include Karleigh Capel (10), Sierra Chamberlin (15), Madison Chatman (13), Lara Elmer (3), Emily Evans (9), Allyssa Garcia (12), and Brendy Paz (2); juniors Roxy Donaldson (18), Lily Ford (11), Sophia Harris (4), Jozilyn Heredia (19), Roni Johnson (17), McKenzie Jones (8), and Sidney Wright (26); sophomores Haley Bigler (5) and Taylor Workman (14); and freshman Skyla Bellamy (24), Kylee Evans (15), Emma Harris (7), Petron Hoglan (16), Bailey Jones (6), Karli McKinley (13), Dusty Rose Rodriguez (23), and Josie Wright (22).
The Wildkats are competing in the 8-member 1A East Region with the Fort Thomas Apaches, the Kearny Ray Bearcats, the Phoenix Valley Lutheran Flames, the San Manuel Miners, the Scottsdale Cicero Prep Centurions, the Superior Panthers, and the Winkelman Hayden Lobos.
1A State Rankings
The statewide rankings for the Top 16 of 37 1A teams as of Oct. 31 were Scottsdale Cicero Prep (16-1 seeding, 17.2235 rating) No. 1, North Phoenix Prep (14-2, 10.4783) No. 2, Saint David (13-4, 6.8763) No. 3, Joseph City (12-5, 4.8818) No. 4, Ash Fork (13-3, 4.0801) No. 5, Phoenix Great Heart Anthem (12-5, 3.4733) No. 6, Patagonia (15-3, 3.4543) No. 7, and Heber Mogollon (11-6, 3.0083) No. 8.
Saint Michael (16-2, 2.0818) was No. 9, Fort Thomas (13-5, minus 0.2986) No. 10, Salome (12-5, minus 0.3876) No. 11, Colorado City El Capitan (10-5, minus 1.2473) No. 12, Williams (9-8, minus 1.8061) No. 13, Glendale Desert Heights Prep (8-7, minus 3.4933) No. 14, Tucson’s The Gregory School (11-6, minus 4.1242) No. 15, and San Simon (10-6, minus 4.1274) No. 16.
1A East Region Final Standings
Region member final standings as of Oct. 31 were Scottsdale Cicero Prep (25-9 overall, 16-1 ranking, 7-0 region), Fort Thomas (16-9, 13-5, 6-1), Duncan (12-16, 8-9, 4-3), Superior (10-7+, 10-5, 4-3), Kearny Ray (9-16, 6-11, 3-4), San Manuel (3-13, 3-13, 2-5), Phoenix Valley Lutheran (4-16+, 4-14, 1-6), and Winkelman Hayden (3-13, 3-13, 1-6).
A total of 35 region matches were played, with results being Cicero Prep 3-0 (25-7, 25-7, 25-17) over Hayden on Sept. 16, 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-12) over Fort Thomas on Sept. 18, 3-0 (25-16, 25-7, 25-12) over Duncan on Sept. 25, 3-0 (25-5, 25-6, 25-19) over Ray on Oct. 2, 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 25-9) over Superior on Oct. 14, 2-1 (25-8, 25-12, 14-25) over San Manuel on Oct. 16, and 3-0 (25-8, 25-11, 25-13) over Valley Lutheran on Oct. 21, and Cicero Prep defeated Veritas Prep 3-2 on Oct. 27;
Fort Thomas 3-0 over Hayden on Sept. 23, 3-0 over Duncan on Oct. 2, 3-0 (25-19, 25-17,25- 16) over Superior on Oct. 7, 3-0 (25-11, 25-22, 25-5) over San Manuel on Oct. 14, 3-0 over Valley Lutheran on Oct. 16, 3-0 over Ray on Oct. 21, and Fort Thomas defeated San Simon 3-0 on Oct. 27; Duncan over Phoenix Valley Lutheran 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 25-8, 25-22) on Sept. 13, 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-22) over San Manuel on Oct. 9, 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-19) over Hayden on Oct. 21, and 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-19) over Superior on Oct. 23;
Superior 3-0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-11) over Hayden on Oct. 2, 3-1 (13-25, 25-15, 25-14, 27-25) over Valley Lutheran on Oct. 9, 3-1 (27-25, 25-21, 14-25, 25-21) over Ray on Oct. 16, and 3-1 (20-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-17) over San Manuel on Oct. 21; Ray 3-0 over Duncan on Sept. 30, 3-0 over Hayden on Oct. 14, and 3-0 over Valley Lutheran on Oct. 23; San Manuel 3-1 (25-16, 25-22, 12-25, 25-19) over Valley Lutheran on Oct. 2 and 3-1 (17-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-23) over Ray on Oct. 7; Valley Lutheran 3-0 over Hayden on Oct. 7; and Hayden 3-2 over San Manuel on Sept. 30. Tourney results (accounting for overall records) were Cicero Prep ending 2-2 during the Horizon Honors tourney on Sept. 6, 4-2 during the 2-day Queen Creek Benjamin Franklin tourney on Sept. 19-20, and 3-4 during the Mesa Dobson tourney on Sept. 26-27; Fort Thomas ended 2-2 during the Willcox tourney on Aug. 30 and 1-2 during the Horizon Honors tourney on Sept. 6; Duncan ended 0-6 during the 2-day Payson tourney on Aug. 29-30 and 4-1 during the San Simon tourney on Oct. 18; Superior ending 0-2+ during the Horizon Honors tourney; Valley Lutheran ended 0-2+ during the Horizon Honors tourney; Ray ended 3-1 during the Horizon Honors tourney and 0-4 during the San Simon tourney; and both San Manuel and Hayden did not schedule a tourney.
