Help, if not height, is on the way for Head Coach Danni Barker and her Sedona Juniors.
Barker’s 17s club volleyball team won three games in eight matches over three days despite being outsized against taller competition from Canada as well as around the state, finishing 22nd at the Festival Fiesta Phoenix on Monday,
Feb. 16.
“Everybody was taller than us,” said Barker, who only had six players for five continuous hours of match play Saturday, Feb. 14. “They had no break to go to the bathroom or eat anything. That was three very long days.”
Although it took another loss to integrate them, Madi Ninneman, Annie Parrella, Liza Westervelt and Nikki Zielinski were the reinforcements Barker needed to win two matches Sunday, Feb. 15. Girls basketball commitments swept them away again Presidents’ Day for the tournament’s final round.
“In hindsight, if we had my whole team there, we could’ve taken it, because the competition was not that good,” Barker said.
She will have everyone but Zielinski — a freshman catcher for the Sedona Red Rock High School softball team — flying with her to Denver on Thursday, Feb. 26, for a much larger tournament, the Colorado Crossroads.
For the full story, including more photos and tournament scores, please see the Friday, Feb. 20, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.
