Bright-Schade, Almaguer and Kassimatis produce double figures in kills as Aztecs volleyball tops South Mountain CC

The Pima Community College volleyball team (5-11, 2-4 in ACCAC) closed out a busy week with a victory on Friday at the West Campus Aztec Gymnasium.

• The Aztecs rallied to win three straight sets after beating South Mountain Community College in four games (22-25, 25-22, 25-12, 27-25). It was Pima's third match of the week.
• The Aztecs trailed by as much as three points in the first set but could not overtake the lead. Pima closed the gap to 22-21 but the Cougars scored two straight points and put the Aztecs down 1-0.
• The Aztecs fell behind for much of the second set but rallied back scoring four of the final five points. With the score knotted at 21-21, sophomore Deanna Almaguer put down a kill; which was followed by sophomore Haley Duncan's (Walden Grove HS) kill to make it 23-21. The Cougars took the next point but the Aztecs scored the final two with kills by freshman Laney Morris (Thatcher HS) and sophomore Lina Kassimatis. The Aztecs tied the match at 1-1.
• Pima broke open the third set as they scored five straight points to take a double digit advantage at 21-11. Sophomore Jessica Bright-Schade (Safford HS) had two blocks and a kill during that stretch. Duncan and Kassimatis produce the other Pima points. They scored nine of the final 10 points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
• The Aztecs took an early 8-2 lead in the fourth set but it slowly disintegrated as South Mountain gained the upper hand. The Aztecs held a 14-11 lead after Duncan's kill but the Cougars went on to score nine straight points to put the Aztecs in a 20-14 hole. Down 23-17, the Aztecs scored three straight points forcing the Cougars to call timeout. The Aztecs took advantage of a pair of South Mountain miscues and forced them to call their second timeout as Pima narrowed the deficit to 23-22. Bright-Schade tied the game with a kill. Almaguer's spikes gave the Aztecs a one-point advantage on two occasions and sophomore Isabel Hansen's (Rincon HS) ace sealed the victory.
• Bright-Schade led the way with a double-double of 17 kills and 13 digs along with three blocks. Almaguer posted 14 kills while Kassimatis finished with 13 kills and three blocks.
• Sophomore Isabella Jacome surpassed 40 assists in a match for the eighth time this season as she finished with 46 assists. Jacome also had seven digs, three kills, three blocks and two aces.
• Freshman Morgan Hains (Canyon del Oro HS) had 21 digs and Hansen posted five kills, six blocks and two aces.

The Aztecs are back at the West Campus Aztec Gymnasium on Wednesday when they host Arizona Western College. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.