After finishing the regular season undefeated, Sedona Red Rock Junior High School’s volleyball team looked for more of the same as it opened its postseason with a semifinal game against Camp Verde on Wednesday, Oct. 28.

The Scorpions got the result they were looking for.

As the No. 1 seed in the tournament, Sedona was coming off of a bye while the Cowboys had defeated Beaver Creek on Tuesday, Oct. 27 to earn a spot in the semifinals. After winning the first set decisively, the Scorpions struggled some in the second set but ultimately prevailed with a 25-21 win to secure a 2-0 victory, earning a spot in the finals in the process.

“I think we played OK,” said eighth-grader Sierra Williams, one of two Sedona captains. “We weren’t as great as we normally are. We didn’t try hard enough. We thought it was going to be an easy game and we thought wrong. We weren’t getting hyped as much as normal.”

If the Scorpions were overconfident in the second set, it would be hard to blame them. Not only was Sedona undefeated during the regular season but they never lost a set. The first set against the Cowboys looked to be more of the same, as the Scorpions posted a dominant 25-10 win.

But Camp Verde wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to its championship hopes as the Cowboys took an early lead in the second set and led through most of it. Sedona did ultimately rally and prevail, but experienced something of an unusual feeling in the process.

“This game was definitely very close,” Amy Brefeld, the other Scorpions captain, said. “We’ve never had a team get to 20 on us before. So it was kind of shocking when we realized, ‘oh my God, this isn’t in the bag.’ We were so down and really needed to hype up in order to win. We pulled through in the end, but it was close.”

Coach Pedro Ortega was happy with the effort that his team showed in the first set. He acknowledged that the 15-point win might have made his team overconfident heading into the second set but also praised them for snapping back into it at the right time.

“It seemed like as the game got tight we made some mistakes in serving and digging,” Ortega said. “Then we regrouped. It’s why I called a couple of timeouts to get the girls to settle down. It’s just another game. With that mentality they can get back into rhythm. We got into the rhythm and were able to put it away.”

With the semifinal win, the Scorpions will face Mayer in the finals on Friday, Oct. 30. The No. 3 seed Wildcats earned their spot in the finals by defeating No. 2 Clarkdale on Wednesday.

Sedona will also host that game, which begins at 4 p.m. and will be played in the main gym.

While the Scorpions like where they stand heading into the finals, they also know that they’ll need to play a good game against Mayer to bring home the championship.

“We finished undefeated,” Brefeld said. “We’re going to see how Friday goes. We’re definitely going to need to pay more attention to our attitudes and energy. But other than that I think we have a really good shot at winning this.”

“I think we have a great chance,” Ortega said. “We haven’t played our best game yet, a complete game — even though we haven’t lost any sets yet. We’ve been able to put it away when the time was right. Hopefully we can continue that. Our goal is to get there and win it for these girls to have a good experience and accomplishment.”