Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Malia Rogers (7) tips the ball over the net during a region match in Morenci on Sept. 13. The Willcox 5-10 senior middle hitter scored a point on her unblocked tip, but the Wildcats won the fifth set 15-7 and the match. It was the first of four consecutive home region matches. Morenci welcomes Bisbee while Willcox visits Benson in region play on Wednesday, Sept. 28.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
MORENCI – The Renee Still-coached Morenci Wildcats welcome the Bisbee Pumas for a region pairing Wednesday, Sept. 28. The Wildcats (7-5 overall, 5-2 seeding, 3-0 East Region) were ranked No. 17 of 46 2A teams while the Pumas (1-18, 1-8, 1-4) were No. 42 in the initial list released on Sept. 27.
Other region pairings on Sept. 28 are Pima at Santa Rita and Willcox at Benson.
Bisbee Pumas
Bisbee brings a lone win over Santa Rita to Wildcat Memorial Gymnasium, downing the Eagles 3-0 (25-15, 25-10, 25-23) in region play on Sept. 26. The Pumas have four 3-set region losses, to Tombstone (10-25, 12-25, 12-25) on Sept. 13, to Benson (10-25, 11-25, 20-25) on Sept. 15, to Pima on Sept. 20, and to Willcox (22-25, 13-25, 9-25) on Sept. 22.
The visitors also have seeding losses of 0-3 (11-25, 14-25, 18-25) to Elfrida Valley Union (Aug. 29), 0-3 (18-25, 15-25, 4-25) to Tucson Saint Augustine Catholic (Sept. 7), 0-3 (11-25, 13-25, 15-25) to Douglas (Sept. 8), and 0-3 (21-25, 27-29, 23-25) to Phoenix Madison Highland Prep (Sept. 12).
Additionally, the Pumas participated in the 2-day Saint Augustine Wolfpack Invitational and in the Morenci Invitational.
Bisbee fell during five matches in Tucson, 1-2 (15-25, 25-22, 8-15) to Tucson’s The Gregory School (Sept. 2), 0-2 (18-25, 17-25) to Saint Augustine (Sept. 2), 0-2 (10-25, 5-25) to Saint David (Sept. 2), 0-2 (9-25, 14-25) to Globe (Sept. 3), 1-2 (20-25, 25-18, 12-15) to Laveen Heritage (Sept. 3).
In Morenci, the Pumas fell in two sets five times, to Morenci (14-25, 12-25), to Saint David (14-25, 19-25), to New Mexico Silver (8-25, 6-25), and to Duncan (4-25, 23-25) in pool play plus in three sets to Duncan (15-25, 23-25, 9-25) in bracket play.
Bisbee has seniors Vianney Hidalgo, Rose Burreau-Lambo, Gabriella Lopez, and Ademina Martinez; juniors Janitza Avechuco, Naelani Borbon, and Lucy Gonzalez-Vazquez; sophomores Liliana Emanuele, Jordan Holly, Destiny Rodriguez, and Isabella Solis; and freshman Natalie Mendez.
Morenci Wildcats
Willcox (Sept. 13), Tucson Santa Rita (Sept. 15), and Benson (Sept. 20) have fallen to Morenci in five, three, and four 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, and 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 28-26) over the Bobcats.
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) and 0-3 (10-25, 21-25, 25-27) to Silver (Sept. 8).
The Wildcats revived their tourney on Sept. 10, falling in four sets (23-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-8) to New Mexico Silver during the semifinals.
In morning pool play, Morenci defeated Duncan 2-0 (25-21, 26-24) and Bisbee 2-0 (25-14, 25-17). The Wildcats fell 2-0 (25-18, 25-21) to Silver and 2-0 (25-19, 25-23) to Saint David.
Morenci fields 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. 9 (7-1, 7.6075), and Metro Region Scottsdale Prep No. 10 (6-3, 6.9512).
2A East Region Standings:
The standings are the Tombstone Yellow Jackets (12-3 overall, 8-1 seeding, 4-0 region) first, Morenci (7-5, 5-2, 3-0) second, the Willcox Cowgirls (10-6, 6-3, 2-2) third, the Pima Roughriders (2-11, 2-6, 2-2) fourth, the Benson Bobcats (8-8, 4-4, 2-2) fifth, the Bisbee Pumas (1-18, 1-8, 1-4) sixth, and the Santa Rita Eagles (0-13, 0-8, 0-4) seventh.
The region member state rankings are No. 6 Tombstone (8-1 seeding, 9.2420 rating), No. 16 Willcox (6-3, 4.1747), No. 17 Morenci (5-2, 3.6544), No. 22 Benson (4-4, 0.4031), No. 26 Pima (2-6, minus 0.4454), No. 42 Bisbee (1-8, minus 12.5705), and No. 45 Santa Rita (0-8, minus 18.3789).
In region matches played to date, Tombstone has 3-0 wins over Bisbee (25-10, 25-12, 25-12) on Sept. 13, Willcox (25-11, 25-15, 25-9) on Sept. 20, and Santa Rita (25-6, 25-8, 25-6) on Sept. 22 plus 3-2 over Pima (19-25, 16-25, 25-11, 25-22, 15-10) on Sept. 15.
Morenci has topped Willcox 3-2 (25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 16-25, 15-7) on Sept. 13, Tucson Santa Rita 3-0 (25-8, 25-17, 25-13) on Sept. 15, and Benson 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 28-26) on Sept. 20.
Willcox has 3-0 wins over Bisbee (25-22, 25-13, 25-9) on Sept. 22 and Pima (25-13, 25-18, 25-11) on Sept. 26; Pima has a win 3-0 over Bisbee on Sept. 20 and 3-2 over Benson (25-23, 25-22, 11-25, 12-25, 15-8) on Sept. 22; Benson has 3-0 wins over Santa Rita (25-5, 25-6, 25-6) on Sept. 13 and over Bisbee (25-10, 25-11, 25-20) on Sept. 15; and Bisbee defeated Santa Rita 3-0 (25-15, 25-10, 25-23) on Sept. 26.
