Cienega senior outside Ashley Robinson recorded several key kills to help the Bobcats defeat Marana 2-1 (25-14, 18-25, 15-6) in the championship match of the Mountain View Lion’s Den Invitational held Friday and Saturday. The Bobcats went 5-0 at the tournament and Marana finished 4-1.

Cienega (9-4 in power-ranking matches, 5-2 in region play) and Marana (11-2, 5-1) compete in the 5A Southern Region where the Tigers have a one game lead over Cienega for second place thanks to a 3-2 victory on Oct. 8. Ironwood Ridge (10-2, 5-0) leads the region.

The Bobcats slowly pulled away from a 6-6 tie in the first set to win it 25-15 thanks to five kills from Robinson and five from Kristin Piorkowski. The Bobcats also recorded four aces in the first set to help set the pace.

The Bobcats started the second set out with back-to-back aces and led 4-0 early but Marana turned to Grace Ehler and the senior responded with four kills and an ace of her own to give the Tigers a 13-12 lead. Ella Dotson added four scores down the stretch and the Tigers went on to win the second set 25-18.

The Tigers jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the third set but Robinson fueled a 15-4 run thanks to five kills and a couple of aces to take the match 2-1.

(Marana/Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

Buena went 3-2 to capture the Silver Championship over Amphitheater.

It’s all region play from here in Southern Arizona with Cienega hosting Sunnyside (4-8, 0-6) on Tuesday and Ironwood Ridge will travel to Marana on the same night. Region champions will not earn an automatic playoff berth at the 5A level but Ironwood Ridge is ranked No. 7, Marana is No. 10, Cienega is No. 13, Empire is No. 14, Rincon/UHS is No. 15 and Buena is No. 23. The top 24 to qualify for the play-in tournament set aside for teams ranked 9-24. That tournament is slated for Oct. 31.

(Buena/Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Grace Ehler, Marana

Laraya Rocha, Rincon/UHS

Destiny Pundt, Mountain View

Abby Whatton, Canyon del Oro

Kristin Piorkowski, Cienega

Gracelyn Nez, Flagstaff

Kasey Purry, Sahuaro