Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Aubrey Evans (12) surveys the defense before serving the ball. The No. 5 Wildkats host No. 24 San Simon on Tuesday, Oct. 3, and visit top-ranked Saint David on Thursday, Oct. 5.
Wilkats face Longhorns on Tuesday, Tigers on Thursday
By Raymundo Frasquillo
DUNCAN – The Kassi Mortensen-coached No. 5 Duncan Wildkats (10-1 seeding, 6.4549 rating) host No. 24 San Simon (4-4, minus 3.5676) Tuesday, Oct. 3 and visit top-ranked Saint David (9-1, 8.9968) Thursday, Oct. 5, both for 1A Tucson Southeast Region matches. San Simon is 2-1 in region play, and both Saint David and Duncan are 1-0.
Other region pairings this week include unranked Sells Baboquivari (0-4) at No. 15 Patagonia (7-4, 0.5424) and No. 10 Elfrida Valley Union (8-2, 4.0113) at Saint David on Oct. 3; and Baboquivari at unranked Nogales Lourdes Catholic (2-5) on Oct. 5.
Non-region pairing includes Patagonia at Tucson’s The Gregory School on Wednesday, Oct. 4; Tucson Desert Christian on Oct. 5; Fort Thomas at Saint David on Friday, Oct. 6; and Valley Union at the Mogollon tourney on Oct. 6-7.
San Simon Longhorns (4-9 overall)
The Kari Wade-coached Longhorns (4-9 overall, 4-5 seeding, 2-1 region) have played nine seeding and four tourney matches, winning 4-5 and 0-4, respectively. The set breakdown is 14-31 for seeding and 2-10 for tourneys or 45 and 20 percent, respectively.
San Simon’s seeding wins are 3-0 (25-6, 25-11, 25-11) over Tucson’s Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind (Aug. 25), 3-1 (27-25, 25-15, 18-25, 27-25) over San Manuel (Sept. 12), 3-0 (25-3, 25-5, 25-19) over Lourdes Catholic (Sept. 13), and 3-1 (27-29, 25-18, 18-25, 27-25) over Baboquivari (Sept. 18).
The Longhorns fell 0-3 (23-25, 23-25, 18-25) to Duncan (Aug. 24), 1-3 to Patagonia (Aug. 30), 1-3 (23-25, 25-13, 17-25, 23-25) to Kearny Ray (Sept. 7), 0-3 (8-25, 10-25, 15-25) to Saint David (Sept. 26), and 0-3 (25-27, 18-25, 21-25) to Fort Thomas (Sept. 29).
San Simon lost all four pairings during the all-day Morenci tourney (Sept. 9).
The 9-member roster includes juniors Betsabe Castellanos (11), Metzly Corrales (3), Kaylee Fierro (6), and Hollie Keil (5); sophomores Lynnea Kartchner (8), Evelyn Lopez (9), and Kimber Rudiger (16); and freshmen Alyzon Corrales (4) and Ana Fierro (15).
Saint David Tigers (15-5)
The Breanna Tillett-coached Tigers (15-5, 9-1, 1-0) have faltered once in 10 seeding matches, to 2A Benson in five sets and prevailed in five of 10 tourney pairings or winning percentages of 90 (9-10) and 50 (5-10), respectively. The set win percentage is 83 (29-35) for seeding and 52 (12-23) for tourney play.
Saint David has wins of 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-18) over Tombstone (Aug. 25), 3-1 (25-17, 25-15, 18-15, 25-15) over Willcox (Aug. 28), 3-0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-12) over The Gregory School (Sept. 7), 3-0 (25-22, 25-4, 25-12) over Ray (Sept. 12), 3-0 (25-3, 25-7, 25-12) over San Manuel (Sept. 14), 3-2 (25-27, 25-23, 14-25, 25-13, 15-6) over Mogollon (Sept. 15), 3-0 (25-13, 25-6, 25-12) over Bisbee (Sept. 18), 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-8) over Desert Christian (Sept. 20), and 3-0 (25-8, 25-10, 25-15) over San Simon (Sept. 26).
The Tigers lone loss was 2-3 (22-25, 26-28, 25-19, 25-22, 8-15) to Benson (Sept. 25).
Saint David went 2-2 during the all-day Benjamin Franklin tourney (Sept. 9) and 3-3 during the 2-day Chandler Prep tourney (Sept. 22-23).
The 11-member roster includes seniors Halee Deskins (6), Anissa Jacquez (12), and Mayla Trejo (9); juniors Gracey Crockett (7), Alayna Didon (8), and Regan Haynie (10); sophomores Austyn Hatch (22), Rachel Hatch (11), Paisley Gooding (13), and Emelyn Jacquez (15); and freshman Emma Hart (21).
Duncan Wildkats (12-5)
They have not dominated every team faced, winning 91 percent (10-11) of seeding matches played yet only 74 percent (28-38) of sets. The Wildkats (12-5, 10-1, 1-0) have also won 22 percent (2-9) of tourney pairings or 33 percent (8-24) sets.
Duncan has topped each of the 1A teams faced and lost in four sets to 2A Pima. The Wildkats have wins of 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-18) over San Simon (Aug. 24), 3-0 (25-11, 25-12, 25-7) over Winkelman Hayden (Aug. 28), 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-20) over Kearny Ray (Aug. 30), 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-17) over Superior (Sept. 1), 3-0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-12) over Tucson Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind (Sept. 5), 3-1 (25-16, 25-27, 25-19, 25-17) over Tucson Desert Christian (Sept. 12), 3-2 (21-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-7) over Elfrida Valley Union (Sept. 22), 3-2 (24-26, 20-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-9) over Fort Thomas (Sept. 20), 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 18-25, 25-22) over Ray (Sept. 26), and 3-1 (25-27, 25-11, 25-23, 26-24) over Patagonia (Sept. 28).
The loss was 1-3 (18-25, 18-25, 28-26, 18-25) to Pima (Sept. 7).
Duncan’s remaining region matches are all on the road, at Nogales Lourdes Catholic (Oct. 11), at Sells Baboquivari (17), and at Valley Union (Oct. 19). Two non-regio n matches also remain, at San Manuel (Oct. 13) and with Hayden (Oct. 24).
The 11-member roster has seniors Karly Coats (11), Aubrey Evans (12), and Rachel Sumner (8); juniors McKenzie Babers (7), Elizabeth Basteen (1), Emily Kempton (14), and Shaylyn Rhoton (4); and sophomores Sierra Chamberlin (15), Lara Elmer (3), Emily Evans (9), and Brenda Paz (13).
1A State Rankings
The post-season begins with a 16-team, 4-round bracket at Scottsdale Coronado, 7501 East Virginia Avenue, on Oct. 31.
Statewide rankings as of Sept. 29 had the Top 16 with Saint David (9-1 seeding, 8.9968 rating) as No. 1, Scottsdale Cicero Prep (9-3, 8.8137) No. 2, Heber Mogollon (7-1, 8.6193) No. 3, Colorado City El Capitan (8-0, 7.2356) No. 4, Duncan (10-1, 6.4549) No. 5, North Phoenix Prep (8-2, 5.5417) No. 6, Williams (9-1, 5.2634) No. 7, Bagdad (6-1, 4.4343) No. 8, Phoenix North Valley Christian (8-2, 4.1891) No. 9, Elfrida Valley Union (8-2, 4.0113) No. 10, Phoenix Valley Lutheran (6-4, 3.0718) No. 11, Wellton Antelope Union (7-2, 2.7298) No. 12, Rock Point (8-2, 2.6558) No. 13, Joseph City (5-3, 2.3149) No. 14, Patagonia (7-4, 0.5424) No. 15, and Superior (4-4, minus 0.5573) No. 16.
The initial listings on Sept. 26 had Saint David (8-1 seeding, 8.9746 rating) No. 1, Mogollon (6-1, 7.9566) No. 2, Scottsdale Cicero Prep (7-3, 7.6453) No. 3, El Capitan (7-0, 7.0336) No. 4, Williams (9-1, 5.2498) No. 5, North Phoenix Prep (6-2, 5.2480) No. 6, Duncan (8-1, 4.5668) No. 7, Bagdad (6-1, 4.5338) No. 8, Phoenix North Valley Christian (6-2, 3.9408) No. 9, Valley Union (7-2, 3.5990) No. 10, Valley Lutheran (5-3, 2.7749) No. 11, Antelope Union (6-2, 2.6781) No. 12, Joseph City (4-3, 2.2892) No. 13, Tucson’s The Gregory School (6-2, 2.1334) No. 14, Rock Point (7-2, 1.7021) No. 15, and Patagonia (6-3, 0.2795) No. 16.
1A Tucson Southeast Region Standings
Region standings, as of Monday (Oct. 2), have Saint David (9-1 seeding, 1-0 region) first, Duncan (10-1, 1-0) second, Valley Union (9-2, 2-0) third, San Simon (4-5, 2-1) fourth, Patagonia (7-4, 1-2) fifth, Lourdes Catholic (2-5, 0-3) sixth, and Baboquivari (0-4, 0-1).
The region wins have been 3-0 (25-8, 25-10, 25-15) by Saint David over San Simon (Sept. 26), 3-1 (25-27, 25-11, 25-23, 26-24) by Duncan over Patagonia (Sept. 28), 3-0 over both Patagonia (Sept. 25) and Lourdes (Sept. 28) by Valley Union, 3-0 (25-3, 25-15, 25-19) over Lourdes (Sept. 13) and 3-1 (27-29, 25-18, 26-24, 25-12) over Baboquivari (Sept. 18) by San Simon, and 3-0 (25-5, 25-8, 25-16) by Patagonia over Lourdes (Sept. 26).
