Catalina Foothills moved to 3-0 on the year after the Falcons beat Nogales 9-0 on Thursday at home. The Falcons went 17-0 last year to win the 16th state championship in program history and the eighth in a row dating back to 2014 (there was no tournament in 2020). One of those victories was a 5-1 win the Division II semifinal round over Nogales.

The Apaches lost their top three players to graduation after that impressive run and there is only one senior in the rotation this year so the team will have to come together under first-year head coach Jennifer Mada, who replaced long-time legendary Nogales sports figure Rudy Molera. The Apaches went 15-2 last year, with both losses coming to Catalina Foothills, so expect some improvement from an 0-1 start as the team works through the schedule.

Catalina Foothills senior Jared Perry won the state singles championship as a sophomore and again as a junior but he might mix it up this year and compete in doubles at state as he quickly makes his way through the recruiting process under head coach Jeffry Bloomberg.

Fellow senior Grant Cohen won the state doubles title last spring with his brother Austin Cohen and he also has his recruitment down to a few teams.

Catalina Foothills will host Rincon/University (3-0) on Tuesday, March 24 and Nogales will take an extended break before hosting Canyon del Oro (3-1) on March 20. The Falcons beat Rincon/UHS 9-0 last year but the Rangers beat Catalina Foothills 5-4 in 2021 to end a 108 match win streak dating back to 2014. The program is now 120-1 in that time frame.

The Falcons only have 11 matches scheduled this year and Bloomberg feels that might translate into a lower seed with other programs playing two or more matches but the Falcons went into the 2021 state playoffs ranked No. 7 only to go 4-0 in the state playoffs, outscoring opponents 20-0.