Rams’ volleyball tops Coronado, 3-0

 

Still battling for a possible spot in the AIA state playoffs, the Maricopa High School volleyball team blanked visiting Scottsdale Coronado, 25-23, 25-12, 25-19 at the Maricopa gym last night.

The Rams, now 6-8, had to fight off a scrappy Coronado team (3-14) n the first set, totally controlled the second and won the third going away.

“We’re hoping to finish 10-8, that’s the goal,” said Rams’ head coach Julia Jefferson following the win over the Dons. “Worst case 9-9, but 10-8 is the goal.”

MHS had a fight on its hands in the first set, falling behind, 3-0, and then holding off a late Coronado rally. Down 23-17, CHS rattled off six straight points to knot the score at 23 before a service error and two-hit violation gave MHS the set victory.

The second set was just the opposite. The Rams, who were playing without two starters for disciplinary reasons, burst to a 9-1 lead and never looked back. Two kills and a service ace by Tatum Winter, and a pair of kills by Cori Teller helped fuel the run.

***ADVERTISEMENT***In the final set, Maricopa scored six straight points early to build an 8-3 lead and then went on to finish off the match. Winter again had two service aces. Julia Dickerson closed the match with a final kill.

“They (Coronado) were very scrappy,” Jefferson said. “They got a lot of balls up that we thought should have been down. But we had big blocks at the net, Tatum did awesome at the net, and Cori Teller played very well.”

Maricopa’s playoff chances rest primarily with the state power rankings. “We have to be in the top 17,” Jefferson said, “or in the top three in our section. Right Now we are 24^th and eighth in the section, so we have to move up. If we win out we have a good chance.”

The Rams will face McClintock, a team it fell to 3-2 earlier in the year, on the road next Tuesday. They also have two meetings with South Mountain and one with powerful, Division I, Mountain Pointe remaining.