Morenci girls bound for the ‘Town too tough to die’ on Monday 

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: The Wildcats show emotion as they carved out a 27-25 set four win to force a fifth set in Pima. Morenci prevailed 15-11 to win the region match Oct. 4. The Wildcats head to Tombstone while Pima hosts Benson on Monday, Oct. 10.

By Raymundo Frasquillo

TOMBSTONE – The Renee Still-coached Morenci Wildcats head to the ‘Town to tough to die’ for a region pairing Monday, Oct. 10. The Tombstone Yellow Jackets (8-1 seeding, 9.2420 rating) were No. 6 while theWildcats (10-5 overall, 7-3 seeding, 5-1) were ranked No. 17 of 46 2A teams in the initial list released on Sept. 27. Tombstone is No. 5 (11-1, 10.2388) and Morenci No. 15 (7-3, 2.4426) as of Oct. 7.

Other region pairings this week include Benson at Pima on Monday; Benson at Bisbee and Morenci at Tucson Santa Rita on Tuesday, Oct. 11; and Morenci at Benson and Pima at Bisbee on Thursday, Oct. 13.

TombstonYellow Jackets

The Yellow Jackets are perched atop the East Region with a 6-0 mark, posting 3-0 wins over Bisbee (25-10, 25-12, 25-12) on Sept. 13, Willcox (25-11, 25-15, 25-9) on Sept. 20, Santa Rita (25-6, 25-8, 25-6) on Sept. 22, Bisbee (25-15, 25-12, 25-17) on Oct. 6; 3-1 over Benson (25-17, 22-25, 25-16, 25-14) on Oct. 4; and 3-2 over Pima (19-25, 16-25, 25-11, 25-22, 15-10) on Sept. 15.

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Mia Ontiveros taps the ball across the net as a Pima defender tries to block it.

Additional seeding match wins are 3-0 over San Simon (25-15, 25-19, 25-14) on Sept. 1, over Patagonia (25-15, 25-12, 25-18) on Sept. 14, and over Tucson Palo Verde Magnet (25-16, 25-7, 25-7) on Sept. 19; and two 3-1 wins over Elfrida Valley Union (24-17, 25-19, 16-25, 30-28) on Sept. 8 and over Sahuarita Walden Grove (255-17, 22-25, 25-19, 25-13) on Oct. 3. The loss was 0-3 (18-25, 22-25, 19-25) to Saint David on Aug. 30.

Tombstone participated in the 2-day Tucson Flowing Wells Invitational on Sept. 9-10. The Yellow Jackets posted 2-set wins over Douglas (Sept. 9), Tucson Pueblo (Sept. 9), and Nogales (Sept. 10) plus a 3-set win over host Flowing Wells (Sept. 10). A pair of 2-set losses were also recorded, to Sahuarita (Sept. 9) and to Tucson Sahuaro (Sept. 10).

The 12-member roster includes seniors Arceli Blackwell and Kiersten Schilling; juniors Jamora Hayes, Hannah Humphrey, Julie Jacquay, and Makinzee Meinhardt; and sophomores Aidan Elias, Riley Hanson, Amiah Kieft, McKenzie Mazzanti, Julia Schilling, and Briella Schuller.

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Alizabeth Aguilar readies a serve against Pima. Having returned from a pre-season injury, the Morenci junior served 85 percent (23-27).

Morenci Wildcats

Five East region opponents succumbed to the Wildcats before a loss was recorded. Willcox (Sept. 13), Tucson Santa Rita (Sept. 15), Benson (Sept. 20), Bisbee (Sept. 28), and Pima (Oct. 4) fell to Morenci in five, three, four, three, and five sets, respectively, during region pairings. The Wildcats prevailed 3-2 (25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 16-25, 15-7) over the Cowgirls, 3-0 (25-8, 25-17, 25-13) over the Eagles, 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 28-26) over the Bobcats, 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-15) over the Pumas, and 3-2 (25-13, 23-25, 17-25, 27-25, 15-11) over the Roughriders.

Morenci also has seeding wins of 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-23) over Globe (Aug. 29) and 3-0 (25-7, 25-19, 25-10) over San Carlos (Sept. 5), as well as losses of 1-3 (23-25, 26-24, 20-25, 19-25) to Miami (Sept. 1), 0-3 (10-25, 21-25, 25-27) to Silver (Sept. 8), and a 3-set (23-25, 20-25, 22-25) region loss to Willcox (Oct. 6).

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Morenci senior Alicia Cruz moves under the ball to pass it to a teammate.

The Wildcats fell in four sets (23-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-8) to New Mexico Silver during the semifinals of their revived their tourney on Sept. 10.

Morenci posted 2-set wins over Duncan (25-21, 26-24) and Bisbee (25-14, 25-17), and fell in two sets to Silver (18-25, 21-25) and to Saint David (19-25, 23-25) during morning pool play.

The Wildcats suit up seniors Kryzzia Cortez, Alicia Cruz, Briseis Hudman, Cambry McCauley, Celina Manuz, Mia Ontiveros, and Sonia Roybal along with juniors Alizabeth Aguilar, Celeis Bejarano, Kay’Leigh Blair, Madison Crawford, and Ciantae Dosela.

2A Top 10 Rankings:

The statewide 2A rankings listed on Sept. 27 have South Region Phoenix Horizon Honors No. 1 (8-1 seeding, 12.5889 rating), Metro Region Phoenix Country Day School No. 2 (7-1, 12.4665), West Region Glendale Trivium Prep No. 3 (8-2, 11.3223), South Region Chandler Prep No. 4 (8-1, 10.5793), Metro Region Scottsdale Rancho Solano Prep No. 5 (6-2, 9.5724), East Region Tombstone No. 6 (8-1, 9.2420), North Region Saint Johns No. 7 (5-1, 8.3358), Metro Region Phoenix Veritas Prep No. 8 (6-3, 7.9819), West Region Kingman Academy No. 7 (5-1, 8.3358), Metro Region Phoenix Veritas Prep No. 8 (6-3, 7.9819), West Region Kingman Academy No. 9 (7-1, 7.6075), and Metro Region Scottsdale Prep No. 10 (6-3, 6.9512).

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Lorena Quezada scored a point with her hit against Morenci. The Pima junior also had a flawless outing in serves, going 9-9.

As of Oct. 7, the top 10 are Horizon Honors No. 1 (10-1 seeding, 13.8230 rating), Trivium Prep No. 2 (9-2, 13.0418), Chandler Prep No. 3 (10-1, 12.8559), Scottsdale Prep No. 4 (10-3, 11.1106), Tombstone No. 5 (11-1, 10.2388), Kingman Academy No. 6 (10-1, 9.9118), Phoenix Country Day School No. 7 (10-3, 9.7527), Rancho Solano Prep No. 8 (7-3, 9.7258), Phoenix Veritas Prep No. 9 (7-5, 8.5882), and West Region Phoenix Arizona Lutheran No. 10 (8-4, 7.7495). Saint Johns dropped from No. 7 to No. 11 (7-2, 6.3632).

2A East Region Standings:

The standings before Monday contests are the Tombstone Yellow Jackets (15-3 overall, 11-1 seeding, 6-0 region) first, Morenci (10-5, 7-3, 5-1) second, the Willcox Cowgirls (10-6, 9-4, 2-2) third, the Benson Bobcats (10-9, 6-5, 4-3) fourth, the Pima Roughriders (3-19, 3-8, 3-3) fifth, the Bisbee Pumas (1-21, 1-11, 1-6) sixth, and the Santa Rita Eagles (0-18, 0-11, 0-7) seventh.

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Pima senior Gaia Falvo passes the ball to a teammate.

The region member state rankings are No. 6 Tombstone (11-1 seeding, 10.2388 rating), No. 18 Willcox (9-4, 2.8910), No. 19 Morenci (7-3, 2. 4426), No. 23 Benson (6-5, 1.1672), No. 30 Pima (3-8, minus 2.5843), No. 43Bisbee (1-11, minus 14.1022), and No. 46 Santa Rita (0-11, minus 20.9726).

In region matches played to date, Tombstone has 3-set wins over Bisbee (25-10, 25-12, 25-12) on Sept. 13, Willcox (25-11, 25-15, 25-9) on Sept. 20, Santa Rita (25-6, 25-8, 25-6) on Sept. 22, Bisbee (25-15, 25-12, 25-17) on Oct. 6; a 4-set over Benson (25-17, 22-25, 25-16, 25-14) on Oct. 4; and a 5-set over Pima (19-25, 16-25, 25-11, 25-22, 15-10) on Sept. 15.

Morenci has 3-set wins over Tucson Santa Rita (25-8, 25-17, 25-13) on Sept. 15 and over Bisbee (25-18, 25-19, 25-15) on Sept. 28; a 4-set win over Benson (25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 28-26) on Sept. 20; and two 5-set wins over Willcox 3-2 (25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 16-25, 15-7) on Sept. 13 and over Pima (25-13, 23-25, 17-25, 27-25, 15-11) on Oct. 4.

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Sonia Roybal tosses the ball up for a serve. The Morenci senior turned in a flawless serving effort, going 22-22 in Pima.

Willcox has 3-set wins over Bisbee (25-22, 25-13, 25-9) on Sept. 22, over Pima (25-13, 25-18, 25-11) on Sept. 26, over Santa Rita (25-9, 25-15, 25-8) on Oct. 4, and over Morenci (25-23, 25-20, 25-22) on Oct. 6; 

Pima has 3-set wins over Bisbee on Sept. 20 and Santa Rita (25-21, 25-6, 25-13) on Sept. 28 plus a 5-set winover Benson (25-23, 25-22, 11-25, 12-25, 15-8) on Sept. 22.

Benson has 3-set wins over Santa Rita (25-5, 25-6, 25-6) on Sept. 13, over Bisbee (25-10, 25-11, 25-20) on Sept. 15, and over Santa Rita (25-12, 25-11, 25-7) on Oct. 6, and a 4-set win over Willcox (21-25, 27-25, 25-21, 25-18) on Sept. 28; and Bisbee defeated Santa Rita 3-0 (25-15, 25-10, 25-23) on Sept. 26.