Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Duncan starters high five one another as they are introduced. Emily Kempton (14) awaits a greeting from libero Reymia Contreras (2) fallowing Karly Coats (11), Aubrey Evans, Rachel Sumner (8), and Ivanna Cano (18). The Wildkats defeated Valley Union in four sets on Oct. 11.Four consecutive home matches loom ahead next week, beginning with Baboquivari on Tuesday, Oct. 18.
Wildkats welcome four opponents next week
By Raymundo Frasquillo
DUNCAN – The Kassi Mortensen coached Duncan Wildkats host the San Manuel Miners on Friday, Oct. 14 for a non-region pairing, and will have four of their final five regular season matches at home.
The Miners come to Greenlee County with 4-6 seeding and 2-1 region records while the Wildkats are 6-5 and 2-1, respectively. San Manuel is ranked No. 25 and Duncan No. 21 of 40 teams in 1A.
San Manuel Miners
The Miners compete in the Tucson Northwest Region and were at Tucson Desert Christian on Oct. 12 before visiting Duncan. They have two 3-set wins, over Tucson’s The Gregory School (25-21, 25-23, 25-22) on Sept. 27 and Tucson Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind (25-8, 25-17, 25-13) on Sept. 30, and a 3-set loss to Kearny Ray (20-25, 14-25, 21-25) on Oct. 6.
Two 3-sets wins, over Palo Verde Magnet (Sept. 8) and Catalina (Sept. 22), along with nine 3-set losses and a 4-set loss accompany the Vipers.
San Manuel also has two seeding wins, in three sets over Sells Baboquivari (25-14, 26-24, 25-12) on Sept. 9 and in five sets over Patagonia (25-17, 19-25, 24-26, 25-15, 8-15) on Sept. 7.
The five seeding losses have been in three sets, to Kearny Ray (13-25, 21-25, 12-25) on Sept. 10, to Patagonia (16-25, 13-25, 20-25) on Sept. 1, to Desert Christian (24-26, 14-25, 17-25) on Sept. 26, and to Saint David (17-25, 24-26, 21-25) on Oct. 3; and one in five sets to San Simon (11-25, 26-24, 25-21, 17-25, 11-15) on Sept. 13.
San Miguel has seniors Denessa Apodaca, Grecia Rodriguez, AngelWhittle, Katie Yonkin, and Eliana Zazuetta; juniors Keira Boulware, Jazlynn Clark, Larisa Corona, and Celeste Flores; sophomores Brianna Ivy and Gyannah Madrid; and freshman Cienna Maghinay on its roster.
Duncan Wildkats
The Wildkats have two 3-set seeding wins over Winkelman Hayden (25-17, 25-16, 25-10) on Aug. 25 and the Tucson Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind (25-3, 25-8, 25-7) on Sept. 6, two 4-set wins over Kearny Ray (15-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-14) on Aug. 31 and Valley Union (25-20, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23) on Oct. 11; and a 5-set win over San Simon (23-25, 25-17, 25-17, 21-25, 15-10) on Aug. 25 in non-region play.
The losses are in three sets to Tucson Desert Christian (20-25, 23-25, 22-25) on Sept. 13 and to Willcox (16-25, 17-25, 12-25) on Sept. 23, and in four sets to Valley Union (25-21, 17-25, 23-25, 24-26) on Sept. 19,
Duncan has a 4-set win over Valley Union (25-20, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23) on Oct. 11 along with a 3-set loss to Patagonia (18-25, 18-25, 19-25) on Sept. 29 and 4-set loss to and 4-sets over Duncan (17-25, 25-16, 15-25, 23-25) on Oct. 4 during region pairings.
In tourney play, the Wildkats went 6-7, 3-3 during the Morenci Invitational on Sept. 10 and 3-4 during the Joseph City Invitational (Oct. 7-8).
Duncan suits up seniors Ivanna Cano, Ariel Harrington, and KayleeKempton; juniors Karly Coats, Aubrey Evans, and Rachel Sumner; and sophomores McKenzie Babers, Elizabeth Basteen, Reymia Contreras, Emily Kempton, and Shaylyn Rhoton.
The Wildkats host Baboquivari (Oct. 18), Kearny Ray (Oct. 19), SaintDavid (Oct. 21), and Superior (Oct. 22) before visiting Winkelman Hayden (Oct. 25).
Duncan – 3, Valley Union – 1
The Wildkats turned in a flawless serve performance during the opening set, but being able to put the ball in play did not guarantee a win.
Five times (3-3, 10-10, 13-13, 16-16, 19-19) the score was tied before the Wildkats went ahead to stay. A Valley Union serve error and net violation plus Coats’ ace serve gave Duncan a 22-19 advantage.Miscommunication between a couple of Wildkats narrowed the margin to two points (22-20), Sumner’s kill put Duncan up by three (23-20) and a passing error again lowered the margin (23-21). A Valley Union passing error raised the margin to three (24-21) and another Sumner kill scored point number 25.
Set two found the Wildkats with a serve percentage of 91 (21-23) and the score tied four times (7-7, 17-17, 19-19, 21-21). A Valley Union passing error broke the tie and an Evans’ kill gave Duncan a 2-point advantage (23-21), a serve error cut the margin in half (23-22), and Valley Union’spassing and hitting errors gave the Wildkats points number 24 and 25.
Although Duncan attained a serve percentage of 95 (21-22) to Valley Union’s 92 (22-24) during set three, the visitors got the win. The sixth tie (20-20) was broken by a Duncan hitting error (20-21). A pair of Blue Devils’ kills (21-23) and hitting error (22-23) put the visitors ahead. A Duncan passing error and Valley Union ace serve decided the outcome.
Set four had eight ties (2-2, 4-4, 8-8, 15-15, 16-16, 20-20, 23-23) before a Valley Union passing error and Emily Kempton ace serve ended the set and match in favor of Duncan.
Kaylee Kempton (23-23), Coats (16-16, 3 aces), and Sumner (15-15) each had flawless serves, Evans had a percentage of 96 (22-23), and both Emily Kempton (8-10) and Contreras (4-5) 80.
1A Top 12 Rankings:
The statewide 1A rankings listed at noon on Oct. 12 have Tucson Southeast Region Saint David No. 1 (11-0 seeding, 17.1383 rating), Canyon Region Williams No. 2 (12-1, 11.0695), Copper Region HeberMogollon No. 3 (10-2, 8.5250), North Region Rock Point No. 4 (11-1, 8.2132), East Region Scottsdale Cicero Prep No. 5 (10-3, 6.9825), NorthRegion Teec Nos Pos Red Mesa No. 6 (8-1, 6.0006), East Region PhoenixValley Lutheran No. 7 (9-4, 4.1408), Copper Region Joseph City No. 8 (8-5, 3.7660), Copper Region Fort Thomas No. 9 (9-5, 3.3418), Central Region North Phoenix Prep No. 10 (10-3, 1.9481), Canyon Region Ash Fork No. 11 (10-4, 1.8407), and West Region Bagdad No. 12 (8-2, 1.0243).
1A Tucson Southeast Region Standings:
The 7-member region standings as of the week’s start were the SaintDavid Tigers (22-4 overall, 11-0 seeding, 2-0 region) first, the PatagoniaLobos (4-7, 4-7, 3-1) second, the San Simon Longhorns (6-6, 6-6, 2-1) third, the Elfrida Valley Union Blue Devils (8-5, 8-5, 2-2) fourth, the Duncan Wildkats (9-12, 6-5, 1-2) fifth, the Sells Baboquivari Warriors (1-5, 1-5, 1-2) sixth, the Nogales Lourdes Catholic Warriors (2-5, 2-5, 0-3)seventh.
State rankings for region members as of Oct. 12 were No. 1 Saint David (11-0 seeding, 17.1383 rating), No. 16 Valley Union (8-5, minus 0.3112), No. 19 San Simon (6-6, minus 0.9106), No. 20 Duncan (6-5, minus 1.9601), No. 26 Patagonia (4-7, minus 4.5889), and both Baboquivari (1-5, unrated) and Lourdes (2-5, unrated) are unranked.
A week earlier, Saint David (8-0 seeding) was No. 1, Valley Union (7-3)No. 12, Duncan (5-4) No. 19, San Simon (5-5) No. 20, Patagonia (3-6)No. 27, and Baboquivari (0-4) and Lourdes (1-5) were both unrated and unranked.
In region matches played to date, Saint David has wins of 3-sets over San Simon (25-13, 25-10, 25-15) on Sept. 27 and 4-sets over Valley Union (24-26, 25-18, 25-17, 25-22) on Oct. 6.
Patagonia has three 3-set wins over Lourdes (25-16, 25-10, 25-19) on Sept. 27, Duncan (25-18, 25-18, 25-19) on Sept. 29, and Baboquivari (25-14, 25-8, 25-15) on Oct. 4.
San Simon has wins of 3-sets over Baboquivari (25-9, 25-18, 25-17) on Sept. 15 and 4-sets over Duncan (25-17, 16-25, 25-15, 25-23) on Oct. 4.
Valley Union has wins of 3-sets over Lourdes (25-15, 25-11, 25-12) on Sept. 29 and 4-sets over Patagonia on Oct. 6; Duncan a 4-set win over Valley Union (25-20, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23) on Oct. 11; and Baboquivari a 4-set win over Lourdes (24-26, 25-19, 25-22, 25-5) on Oct. 6.
Remaining region matches include Saint David at Baboquivari on Oct. 12; Baboquivari at Duncan, Lourdes at Saint David, and Valley Union at San Simon on Oct. 18; San Simon at Patagonia and Valley Union at Baboquivari on Oct. 19; San Simon at Lourdes and Patagonia at Saint David on Oct. 20; and Saint David at Duncan on Oct. 21.
1A Tucson Northwest Region Standings:
The 5-member region standings as of the week’s start were the Kearny Ray Bearcats (8-4 seeding, 3-0 region) first, the San Manuel Miners (4-6, 2-1) second, the Tucson’s The Gregory School Hawks (8-3, 1-2) third, the Tucson Desert Christian Eagles (9-4, 0-0) fourth, and the Tucson Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind Sentinels (0-10, 0-3) fifth.
State rankings for region members as of Oct. 12 were No. 14 Desert Christian (9-4, 0.2225), No. 18 The Gregory School (8-3, minus 0.6611), No. 21 Ray (8-4 seeding, minus 1.3413 rating), No. 25 San Manuel (4-6, minus 4.5622), and No. 38 ASDB (0-10, minus 18.6943).
Remaining region matches include Desert Christian at Ray on Oct. 18,Desert Christian at The Gregory School on Oct. 19, and ASDB at Desert Christian on Oct. 21.
