AUGUST 30-31: TUCSON HIGH

 

Tucson High went 6-1 to capture the championship of the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) Girls Volleyball Invitational held Friday and Saturday on the Badger campus. Tucson beat Catalina Foothills in the winner’s bracket final and the Falcons knocked out Sahuarita to get back to the Gold Bracket championship round against Tucson.

Under the double-elimination format, the Falcons had to beat Tucson to force an “if game” and the team pulled it off with a 25-23, 25-16 victory to set up the championship final. The first set of the final played out to 15-15 before Catalina Foothills built what looked to be a commanding 18-15 lead but a couple of aces from Remi Ridley helped fuel a 7-1 run from the Badgers and the team led 22-19.

A service error and a kill from Mercedes Martinez cut the lead down to 22-21 but Emilie Rodiguez hit Alma Teilon to bring the lead to 23-21. Martinez responded with another kill and another point tied the set up at 23-23. Carmen Arizpuro put Tucson back up 24-23 but Martinez took another Leah Stoneking offering to make it 24-24. Ridley came up with a kill and then Gloria Valencia had an ace for the 26-24 win to put the Badgers up 1-0.

Tucson took a 7-1 lead in the deciding set and eventually built a 19-6 lead. The Stoneking/Martinez combination cut the lead down to 23-17 and then 24-20 but Kiera Hamilton came up with her 28th kill in the championship series for the 25-20 win.

Hamilton finished with 28 kills in the two matches and Rodriguez had 39 assists. Stoneking had 36 assists and Martinez had 21 kills.

Tucson (1-0 in ranking matches) will host Desert Vista (1-1) on Tuesday and Catalina Foothills (0-1) will host Ironwood Ridge.

Sunnyside (0-1) won the Silver Bracket with a 2-0 win over Pueblo (1-0). The two teams play again on Tuesday at Pueblo.