Aztecs Volleyball Rally to Beat Chandler-Gilbert, Qualify for Region Tourney
The Pima Community College volleyball team (17-14, 7-9 in ACCAC) closed out the regular season with a dramatic victory on Friday at the West Campus.
The Aztecs dropped the first two sets but rallied to defeat Chandler-Gilbert Community College in a five-set thriller 21-25, 22-25, 27-25, 25-17, 15-11.
Late in the third set, the Aztecs trailed 24-23 and again at 25-24 but two kills by freshman Victoria Davis (Sahuaro HS) and a miscue by Chandler-Gilbert gave Pima the win to cut the deficit to 2-1 in the match.
The Aztecs held on to a tight lead at 16-13 in the fourth set but rallied off five straight set points capped off by an ace by sophomore Arisa Chavez to put Pima up 21-13. Chavez also had a kill and Davis contributed with two kills in that stretch.
In the fifth set tie-breaker, the Aztecs never trailed but Chandler-Gilbert closed the cap to one point on a few occasions. Up 9-8 and coming out of a timeout, freshman Kristin Baldwin (Thatcher HS) scored a kill and had an ace-point for the Aztecs. Sophomore Whitney Nesbitt (Cienega HS) put down a kill to force Chandler-Gilbert to call timeout with Pima up 12-8. Sophomore Brooklyn Scarborough (Thatcher HS) put down two kills to help complete the comeback win.
The Aztecs had three players in double figures for kills. Scarborough had 19, Davis produced 16 kills and sophomore Mariah Rodriguez (Tucson Magnet HS) had 11. Sophomore Miranda Bingham (Safford HS) had 60 assists with 23 digs and five aces. Sophomore Angel Chavez (Mingus Union HS) finished the match with 27 digs while Baldwin had four blocks and Arisa Chavez had three blocks.
The Aztecs will be the No. 4 seed in the Region I, Division II double-elimination tournament starting on Thursday at Glendale Community College. The Aztecs will play No. 1 seeded Glendale on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
Sophomore Night left to right (Miranda Bingham, Whitney Nesbitt, Angel Chavez, Assistant Coach Kaysee Pilgrim, Coach Dan Bithell, Brooklyn Scarborough, Arisa Chavez, Mariah Rodriguez and Jamie Holliday) Photo by Raymond Suarez
