For the second time in as many seasons Saturday, Oct. 31, the Sedona Red Rock High volleyball team claimed the 3A-West region title.
Spooks, goblins, zombies, a few superhero characters and even a giant bunny rabbit took a break from groveling candy provided by the local neighbors to watch the Scorpions sweep a disgruntled Parker High team in the title game, 3-0.
“I thought we played the best we had all season which is good; it means we’re peaking at the right time,” Sedona Head Coach John Parks said.
The Broncs were 16-1 record-wise up until that point, having beaten Estrella Foothills High in the day’s earlier semifinal match, 3-2.
The victory over Estrella Foothills was revenge for the Broncs because they lost to the Wolves back in September, their only loss of the regular season.
Perhaps the Broncs, well known for their stellar volleyball program, hadn’t seen a team decent enough to play with them on the same court all season. Or maybe they just played bad a few Parker fans suggested.
It could be the 10 attack errors, 10 ball-handling errors and six service errors Parker made against Sedona, but the Scorpions were right with them in attack errors [12], ball handling errors [7] and service errors [7].
Either way, Sedona made quick work of their old rival, needing only three games to earn the sweep and
the championship.
The Scorpions earned a trip to the West region title match after defeating Wickenburg High earlier in the day, 3-1.
Wickenburg turned around and beat Estrella Foothills in the third place match, 3-2. The victory for the Wranglers guarantees four West region schools will be in the 3A state playoffs come Friday.
In game one of the championship match Saturday, Sedona and Parker were neck and neck until the Scorpions pulled away 24-19.
Senior Katie Adams was set up by a great dig from junior teammate Chelsea Strong and a beautiful set from senior team captain Logan Reilly and did her part for the kill and a game one victory, 25-19.
From then on it was all Sedona as Parker players began fighting amongst one another, yelling at each other and generally didn’t know what was going on from point to point.
In the end, Sedona won game two 25-16 and took a 10-4 lead in game three before finally putting it away, 25-17.
Parker, to their credit, did make game three a bit interesting as the clock ticked away the West region title in Sedona’s favor, but the Scorpions ended the championship tournament with bench players on the floor in victory.
Standouts included Adams, who had seven kills, one solo block and one block assist while Strong had 14 digs and an ace serve.
Reilly finished the match with 17 assists, one kill and two block assists.
Sophomore Katie Furlong led all players with 16 kills on the night while junior teammate Rachel Cook had eight kills, four ace serves and one block assist. Sedona as a team had 37 kills.
“We need to carry this over to state. How we played against Parker is how we need to play at state,” Furlong said after the match, acting surprised she had so many kills.
Cook, of course, backed her teammate up in everything she said.
“I think we played well; we played together and that was great. We need to continue this kind of play,” Cook said.
Cook has come along nicely this season and teamed up with senior Shelby Brekke, Adams, Furlong, Reilly and Strong, it’s going to make it awful tough for someone to beat these Scorpions.
Sedona will take its 15-2 [10-8, tournament play] overall record and West region championship to Prescott Valley on Friday, Nov. 6, when the No. 5 Scorpions face off against No. 12 Payson High in the first round of the 3A state tournament.
The match is scheduled for 9 a.m. at Bradshaw Mountain High.
If the Scorpions can beat Payson, they will play the winner of the Snowflake High [No. 4] and Empire High [No. 13] match at 5 p.m.
Sedona could be a favorite to come out of those two matches a winner but would then probably see No. 1 Monument Valley High in the state semifinals Saturday, Nov. 7, at Prescott High with a 1 p.m. start time.
The 3A state championship match is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday.
Brian Bergner Jr. can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 131, or e-mail bbergner@larsonnewspapers.com
