Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Thatcher on-court players meet to encourage one another. The No. 16 Eagles host the No. 4 Safford Bulldogs for a region match on Monday, Oct. 2.
Safford initially ranked No. 2, Thatcher No. 17
By Raymundo Frasquillo
THATCHER – Their season journeys have resulted in different outcomes from when they met a year ago, but all of it has been in preparation for the post-season.
Last season, the Kim Orr-coached Thatcher Eagles were ranked No. 4 (16-12 overall, 8-1 seeding, 2-0 region), had won 36-of-46 seeding sets plus 20-40 tourney sets compared to 22-28 and 14-28, respectively, by the No. 12 Bulldogs (13-7, 7-1, 1-1). Thatcher prevailed during three sets over the Robert Abalos-coached Safford Bulldogs in Norma Bellamy Gymnasium.
This time, Safford was ranked No. 2 (7-0 seeding, 15.6876 rating) of 46 and Thatcher No. 17 (4-4, 3.4078) in the initial 3A listing on Sept. 26. At week’s end, the Bulldogs were No. 4 (8-0, 15.3510) and the Eagles No. 16 (5-4, 3.6588). The Bulldogs head to the Eagles’ nest in Thatcher on Monday, Oct. 2. It is a 3A South Region contest with tip-off at 6 p.m.
Safford Bulldogs (18-20-1 overall)
The Bulldogs (18-20-1 overall, 8-0 seeding, 2-0 3A South Region) have won eight seeding matches and 10 of 20 tourney matches.
Safford has eight seeding match wins, seven in three sets and one in four sets, with a set win percentage of 96 (24-25). The wins were 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-16) over Tucson Cholla (Aug. 29), 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-16) over Sahuarita (Sept. 5), 3-0 (25-9, 25-5, 25-11) over Tucson Sabino (Sept. 7), 3-0 (25-11, 25-7, 25-19) over New Mexico Silver (Sept. 13), 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-14) over Show Low (Sept. 19), 3-1 (25-21, 25-18, 21-25, 29-27) over Tucson Tanque Verde (Sept. 21), 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-5) over Tucson Amphitheater (Sept. 25), and 3-0 () over Tucson Catalina (Sept. 26).
Participation in three 2-day tourneys resulted in winning 10 of 20 (.500) pairings or 27-50 sets (.540). The Bulldogs left 4-2 from the Glendale Estrella Foothills tourney (Sept. 1-2), 2-3-1 from the Snowflake tourney (Sept. 15-16), and 4-4 from the Gilbert North American Leadership tourney (Sept. 29-30).
Safford’s remaining region matches are all against Tucson schools, at San Miguel (Oct. 10), at Pusch Ridge Christian (Oct. 12), with Sabino (Oct. 17), at Empire (Oct. 19), and with Palo Verde Magnet (Oct. 23).
Three non-region road matches also remain, at Tucson Flowing Wells (Oct. 4), at Blue Ridge (Oct. 21), and at Snowflake (Oct. 25).
The 13-member roster has seniors Mia Abalos, Jaidyn Espinosa, Melanie Gonzales, and Jaidyn Mortensen; juniors Breanna Arbizo, Mianah Carasco, and Marley Jurado; sophomores Kai-Lee Cordova, Jerzi Hawkins, Rhylie Klajda, Alexis Rope, Hannah Schade; and freshman Payton Abalos.
Thatcher Eagles (5-14)
The Eagles (5-14, 5-4, 2-0 3A South Region) have seeding wins of 3-0 (25-13, 25-7, 25-7) over Sabino (Aug. 28), 3-0 (25-10, 25-13, 25-16) over Sahuarita Walden Grove (Aug. 30), 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-17) over Pima (Sept. 13), 3-2 (21-25, 25-15, 25-12, 25-27, 15-12) over Tanque Verde (Sept. 19), and 3-0 (25-4, 25-16, 25-6) over San Miguel Catholic (Sept. 26). The losses are 0-3 () to Snowflake (Aug. 24), 0-3 (19-25, 19-25, 12-25) to Tucson Canyon del Oro (Sept. 5), 0-3 (5-25, 16-25, 22-25) to Mica Mountain (Sept. 7), and 0-3 (14-25, 18-25, 20-25) to Chandler Valley Christian (Sept. 15).
Thatcher went 0-7 during the Chandler tourney (Sept. 1-2) and 0-3 during the Red Mountain tourney (Sept. 8-9), losing 14 of 16 and 6-6 sets, respectively.
The remaining region matches are against Tucson schools, at Palo Verde Magnet (Oct. 4), with Pusch Ridge (Oct. 10), at Catalina (Oct. 12), versus Empire (Oct. 17), and versus Tanque Verde (Oct. 19).
Two non-region pairings, at Pusch Ridge (Oct. 23) and versus Blue Ridge (Oct. 25), as well as a two-day tourney in Florence (Oct. 13-14), are yet to be played.
The Eagles include seniors Avery Bingham, Macey Carter, and Marli Lopeman; juniors Kadie Bingham, Kenady Davis, Maggie Draper, Laci Hull, and Adysen Smith; sophomores Tyla Bryce, Presley Cummard, Shaylee Hughes, Makenzi Lunt, Lanie Larson, Emry Nelson, Kylia Nelson; and freshman Lillie Welker.
3A State Rankings
Statewide rankings as of Sept. 29 had Chandler Valley Christian (11-0 seeding, 22.9505 rating) No. 1, Phoenix Northwest Christian (9-1, 16.4370) No. 2, Snowflake (9-1, 16.1288) No. 3, Safford (8-0, 15.3510) No. 4, Kayenta Monument Valley (5-0, 14.6017) No. 5, Show Low (9-2, 11.0585) No. 6, Buckeye Odyssey Institute (9-1, 11.0011) No. 7, Queen Creek Benjamin Franklin (6-3, 8.2139) No. 8, Chinle (7-2, 8.0970) No. 9, Fountain Hills (7-3, 7.9449) No. 10, Winslow (7-3, 7.5922) No. 11, Scottsdale Christian (5-5, 7.4100) No. 12, Parker (6-2, 6.6784) No. 13, Gilbert Christian (6-6, 6.1733) No. 14, Waddell American Leadership – West Foothills (6-1, 5.2470) No. 15, and Thatcher (5-4, 3.6588) No. 16.
The initial listings on Sept. 26 had Valley Christian (9-0 seeding, 21.0084 rating) No. 1, Safford (7-0, 15.6876) No. 2, Northwest Christian (7-1, 14.9413) No. 3, Snowflake (7-1, 13.0487) No. 4, Monument Valley (4-0, 12.2563) No. 5, Show Low (8-1, 11.7905) No. 6, Odyssey Institute (8-1, 10.1720) No. 7, Scottsdale Christian (4-4, 8.5072) No. 8, Chinle (6-1, 7.8486) No. 9, Benjamin Franklin (5-3, 6.8851) No. 10, Parker (5-2, 6.1407) No. 11, Winslow (5-3, 5.7052) No. 12, Fountain Hills (5-2, 5.6614) No. 13, Gilbert Christian (5-5, 5.1831) No. 14, Holbrook (4-3, 4.1430) No. 15, and ALA – West Foothills (4-1, 3.7893) No. 16.
3A South Region Standings
Region standings, as of Monday morning (Oct. 2), have Safford (8-0 seeding, 2-0 region) first, Thatcher (5-4, 2-0) second, Pusch Ridge Christian (5-5, 2-0) third, Empire (5-4, 2-1) fourth, Tanque Verde (4-4, 1-1) fifth, Sabino (1-10, 0-2) sixth, Palo Verde Magnet (2-9, 0-2) seventh, San Miguel Catholic (1-7, 0-1) eighth, and Catalina (0-8, 0-2) ninth.
Safford has region wins of 3-1 (25-21, 25-18, 21-25, 29-27) over Tucson Tanque Verde (Sept. 21) and 3-0 over Tucson Catalina (Sept. 26), Thatcher 3-0 (25-13, 25-7, 25-7) over Sabino (Aug. 28) and 3-0 (4-16-6) over San Miguel (Sept. 26), Pusch Ridge 3-0 (25-9, 25-9, 25-4) over Palo Verde Magnet (Sept. 26) and 3-0 (25-10, 25-2, 25-3) over Catalina (Sept. 28), Empire 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-11) over Sabino (Sept. 26) and 3-0 (25-10, 25-8, 25-5) over Palo Verde Magnet (Sept. 28), and Tanque Verde 3-1 (25-20, 25-17, 21-25, 25-15) over Empire (Aug. 31).
