The
Falcons beat three 5A teams–Peoria, Deer Valley and Sunrise
Mountain–at the tournament, but suffered losses to Deser Vista,
Gilbert, Desert Mountain, Centennial, as well as Valley Christian
twice.
“By
the end of it, we were fielding the reserve team,” Drechsler
said. “We didn’t want to get any other (starters) hurt.”
The
Falcons called up Whitney Wilde to the varsity team to help
fill the injury void. They were scheduled to play a non‑region
match against Coconino Oct. 10 before returning to Wells Fargo
2 Region play Thursday with a trip to Prescott Valley to face
Bradshaw Mountain.
Those
matches will prep the team for next week’s regular season finales
against Notre Dame and Sunnyslope, which should settle the region
championship. Cactus Shadows (3‑2 region) is currently
behind both teams in the standings, and Sunnyslope entered the
week undefeated at 24‑0.
“We
are not playing (good) defense and we need to get back to basics,”
Drechsler said. “If we play defense the way we are capable of
playing, we are still capable of winning state (despite the
injuries).”
Boulder
Creek creeping up on Northwest Region lead
NORTH
VALLEY – Boulder Creek volleyball coach Chad Speer had a feeling
this might happen to his team: winning matches but losing playoff
points.
That’s
the scenario that’s been playing out for the Jaguars, who have
sneaked up to second place in the 5A Northwest Region with eight
straight region wins overall. But because the region is filled
with teams owning mediocre records, Boulder Creek has not been
able to capitalize on crucial bonus points for the rankings
used to seed the state tournament.
When
the Jaguars started their overall nine‑match win streak–dating
back to a three‑game sweep of Goldwater Sept. 12–the team
was ranked fourth in power points, but has fallen to sixth entering
this week.
Boulder
Creek might not even be helped by this week’s Mountain View
Invitational in Marana. The teams in the field probably won’t
make much of a difference to the team’s standing, coach Chad
Speer said.
Goldwater
hopes to stop region skid
NORTH
VALLEY – Goldwater (6‑20 overall, 3‑7 Northwest
Region) is badly in need of wins after losing four straight
league matches. The Bulldogs are scheduled to host Kingman Oct.
14 in a doubleheader with both teams needing victories to secure
playoff points.
With
no region tournament held this year, the regular season will
determine the power point rankings that are used to seed teams
at the state tournament. Goldwater entered the week ranked 17th
in 5A‑Division II, one ranking back from the final spot
for state. Kingman is ranked 13th in power points.
Sandra
Day O’Connor had a three‑match winning streak broken by
Kingman Oct. 5, but the Eagles still moved into the No. 15 spot
in the 5A‑II rankings.
