Aztec Volleyball Falls Short Against Glendale CC in Home Opener

The Pima Community College volleyball team (2-5, 1-2 in ACCAC) played a tough match in its home opener on Friday at the West Campus against No. 4 ranked Glendale Community College (3-0, 3-0).

The Aztecs fell in four sets to the Gauchos 25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 25-18.

Down 2-0 in the match, the Aztecs responded in the third set. They fell behind 13-6 and later trailed 20-15. The Aztecs closed the gap at 22-20 and scored five of the next six points to take the set. Freshman Kylee Ashment (Highland HS) had an ace to give Pima a 23-22 lead while freshman Kaitlynn Maxon (Cienega HS) and sophomore Victoria Davis (Sahuaro HS) put away kills to seal it.

The Aztecs used the rally to take an early lead in the fourth set but the Gauchos took a 16-14 lead and would score the final nine out of 13 points to close out the match.

The Aztecs took an early lead in the first set at 6-4 after sophomore Aleksandra Palmer's (Thatcher HS) kill but Pima fell behind 11-9 and surrendered four straight points and couldn't close the gap.

The Aztecs trailed by a minimal margin for much of the second set. They fell behind 16-14 but rallied off three straight points to take a 17-16 lead and again at 19-18 after Davis had a block at the net. The Gauchos scored four straight points to make it 22-19 and would take a 2-0 advantage in the match.

Davis had another monster game as she finished with 13 kills, 17 digs and five blocks. Palmer had a solid match with 13 kills as freshman Hannah Gerard (Canyon del Oro HS) posted 19 assists and one ace. Freshman Kayli Riesgo (Cienega HS) had 11 assists and 11 digs while fellow freshman Anissa Conrad finished with 11 digs.

The Aztecs will be back on the road on Wednesday when they play at Scottsdale Community College at 7:00 p.m. 

Aleksandra Palmer/Photo by Ben Carbajal