IRONWOOD RIDGE 4, CATALINA FOOTHILLS 1

1 IR: Marcella Landers/Kallie George over Leah Stoneking/Lindon Bourn, 21-8, 21-13

2 CF: Ava Terpning/Sydney Hellbusch over Maria Lemas/Lydia Litkenhus, 21-18, 15-21, 15-11

3 IR: Kendyl Shields/Aubrey Schultz over Madden Bowers/Alivia Sutton, 15-21, 21-19, 15-13

4 IR: Laura Cubillas/Genesis Othon over Alex Kaetz/Suzy Russel, 21-10, 21-13

5 IR: Lillian Merchant/Audrey Cross over Anjali Green/Aurora Mellor, 21-16, 21-12

Ironwood Ridge standout Kallie George. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

Ironwood Ridge improved to 3-1 on the year after the Nighthawks beat Catalina Foothills 4-1 Wednesday night at home. The Falcons are 3-2 on the year and the program has a bit of a break now with the team competing next at the CatBox Classic Invitational taking place from March 27-28.

Ironwood Ridge will travel to Mansel Carter Oasis Park in Queen Creek on March 18 to take on Franklin (1-0), followed by a trip to Desert Edge (2-0) on March 23. The Nighthawks will then host Notre Dame (5-0) on the 25th before opening up their competition courts to host the CatBox Classic.

The CatBox Classic was the nation’s first high school pairs invitational and the first to be played on a Division I campus when the University of Arizona hosted the inaugural classic in 2016. As of now, power teams O'Connor, Xavier and Flagstaff will join Desert Ridge, Catalina Foothills and Ironwood Ridge at the Classic. O'Connor has won four straight Division I championships and the Eagles beat Xavier to win the title last year. Xavier has eight state championships and Flagstaff earned two runner-up finishes since 2022.

There is a waiting list for the Classic with expansion possibly taking place at Canyon del Oro. The Amphitheater School District built championship complexes for each of the three high schools in the district in 2018 and the facilities are patterned after the D-I facility at Arizona, including high-level sand.

 

Catlaina Foothills standout Lindon Bourn. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)