By Don Ketchum

Party in the pines!

It certainly was a night worth celebrating for Flagstaff High’s girls on Tuesday (Nov. 6), after the top-seeded Eagles rallied from two sets down to defeat No. 6 Phoenix Arcadia 23-25, 24-26, 25-23, 25-23, 15-10 in the Division II championship match at Gilbert Mesquite High.

Flagstaff finished the season unbeaten at 42-0. Arcadia finished 30-5.

“We do not like to lose. We didn’t want to let it slip away,’’ said senior Bree Davis. “As soon as we won the third game, we said, “We can do this.’ ’’

The Eagles were able to get some digs against Arcadia senior star hitter Izzy Miller, which led to several successful return shots, and got a big block to seal the victory and force a deciding fifth set.

It was an amazing turnaround. The longer the match went, the more Arcadia looked lost, unsure of what to do.

Flagstaff was the recipient, particularly down the stretch in the fifth set.

“We have always been confident that we can come back at any point at any time,’’ Davis said. “When we see the other team start to fall apart, that’s when we pull together.’’

Davis played well, as did teammates Courtney Leffel, Randi Powers and Izzy Gosar. Leffel seemed to be all over the floor, diving for digs, setting up teammates and coming through with consistent serves.

Flagstaff coach Beth Haglin admitted her team was a bit tight in the first two sets.

“It was very stressful, but the girls always believe in themselves,’’ she said. “We missed some serves, and we told them that they needed to start making them. We talked about how to win.

“When the season starts, you always want to win state, but I never dreamed we would go 42-0. We went unbeaten. It is an amazing group.

“We wanted them to leave it all on the court. We said, “You can rest tomorrow (Wednesday).’ ’’

Unless the party in the pines still is going strong.