Volleyball, cross country teams post big victories

The Maricopa High School volleyball team earned a milestone victory last week, when the Rams defeated Tempe for the program’s first win in the Class 4A-II East Sky Region.

“The victory was what we needed, and it’s a huge confidence-builder,” Maricopa head coach Julia Jefferson said following the Rams’ straight-set triumph over the visiting Tempe Buffaloes on Sept. 28. “This win is definitely the turning point for us for the rest of our season.”

Maricopa swept the match by scores of 25-11, 25-17 and 25-11. The Rams never trailed in any of the three games, grabbing a 10-1 lead in Game 1, pulling away late in Game 2 and scoring seven of the first eight points in Game 3.

“Overall we played much better,” Jefferson said. “We played together.”

Beth Liddell led Maricopa with nine kills, while Julia Dickerson had six kills and two digs.
Chyenne Anderson finished with five blocks and one kill for the Rams, who also got 14 digs from Madalina Cutajar along with 13 assists, one kill and one dig from Pua Mataele.
Briauna Tutwiler, a sophomore who recently was promoted from the junior varsity, contributed five kills.

The Rams went on to post a 3-2 victory over Gilbert Higley on Thursday to improve to 2-6 in the rugged East Sky Region. The wins over Tempe and Higley are the first in the region for Maricopa since the Rams moved up from the Class 3A level to 4A-II last year.

Maricopa stands at 3-8 in the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Power Rankings for Class 4A-II. The Rams’ overall record of 9-10 includes a 6-2 mark at the Florence Tournament which is not included in the power point standings.

CROSS COUNTRY
Chris Lessard broke his own course record by 41 seconds at The Duke at Rancho El Dorado.
Lessard, a junior, posted a time of 17:13 to lead the Maricopa boys cross country team to victory over Chandler Seton Catholic, Scottsdale Coronado and San Tan Valley Combs on Sept. 28. In doing so, Lessard improved upon the previous course record of 17:54 that he set earlier this season.

Travis Moore placed third in the meet for Maricopa with a time of 17:51, while Gibran Aguilar finished fourth in 19:21.

Lessard has won every race he has competed in this year except for one – the Ojo Rojo Invitational at Tumbleweed Park in Chandler on Sept. 25. Lessard placed third out of 183 runners in the Ojo Rojo event, and he recorded his best time of the season at 16:05.

Moore, a senior, placed 15th at the Ojo Rojo Invitational with a time of 16:49 as the Rams finished 12th out of 27 schools in the team standings. All of the schools in the top 11 of the team standings compete in Divisions I and II at the state level, while the Rams are a smaller-school Division III team.

The Maricopa girls cross country team defeated Chandler Seton Catholic on Sept. 28 at The Duke at Rancho El Dorado.

Sandiin Mitchell placed first for the Rams in 23:12. Jessica Beach finished second in 25:34, while her twin sister and Maricopa teammate Beth Beach placed third in 26:16.