No. 2 Ironwood Ridge beat No. 1 Mica Mountain at home Tuesday night in a match that mirrored what one would hope to see deep in the 4A state playoffs with Division I athletes and highly skilled players at every position. The misleading 3-0 victory felt more like a five-set match, which has been the standard between the two power programs

The Nighthawks transitioned from the 5A Conference to 4A in 2024 and the Thunderbolts got the best of that opening series, going 2-1 against Ironwood Ridge with the second victory coming in the quarterfinal round of the state playoffs. The Thunderbolts would go on to earn second place. Then, Ironwood Ridge beat Mica Mountain twice last year and both programs made it to the semifinal round on opposite sides of the bracket.

The two teams will meet again at Mica Mountain on Oct. 29 to end the regular season and that one should be just as competitive.

“I think both teams are better than we were two hours ago,” Ironwood Ridge head coach Bill Lang said on the atmosphere and the high level of competition. Lang has historically scheduled a very difficult schedule outside of region play and Mica Mountain had a very difficult invitational schedule this year in what should pay dividends down the road for both teams.

Mica Mountain had the upper hand in the first set with a 21-18 lead but the Nighthawks closed out the set on a 7-2 run for a 25-23 victory. Florida State commit Ashlyn Quiri put down five kills in that’s stretch on offerings from sophomore setter Marcella Landers.

Mica Mountain led 24-23 in the second set on a block from Idaho State commit Aubrey Necas but a couple of kills from Kallie George put the Nighthawks up 25-24. Necas put down a kill to tie the set back up, and then the Thunderbolts went up 26-25, but Ironwood Ridge closed the set out on 3-0 run with George providing the winning kill from Landers.

The two teams played to a 17-17 tie in the third set but three more scores from Quiri put the Nighthawks up 21-18. Necas had three more kills down the stretch to cut the lead down to 24-22 but Kendyl Shields scored from the right side for the 25-22 victory.

“I’m really happy with how we competed,” Mica Mountain head coach Amy Johnson said.  “I think all of the hard skills tonight we did really well. We fizzled on serving and didn't play great defense and there are easy things I think that we can control like not anticipating when we should.”

For Ironwood Ridge. George became the fourth player to break 1,000 career kills in the program and she did it as a junior. Lang credits a new philosophy of giving freshmen a chance at the varsity level.

“We were so good back then that we just had some kids that they just couldn't be better than the older players with maturity, weight room, all that, everything,” Lang explained on how difficult it was a for freshman to break varsity. “Well, we went through COVID, and that kind of slowed our program down a little bit. When Callie showed up, I mean, she was lifting the same amount as the juniors and seniors. She was playing like the juniors and seniors. We just didn't have the same depth all the way through the program like in the past. Maturity-wise, physicality, technical, all that. We're at a point where kids are starting to play varsity as freshmen. It was a decision I had to make.”

Necas gained stature in Johnson’s eyes and she places her in the top five she has ever coached. “Aubrey's amazing,” Johnson explained.  “I think she did a great job tonight of controlling emotions for her team. She was a pretty good leader. Yeah. I think she went out there and got it done tonight. She had some good blocks, lots of bunch of kills, and I think did a good job of trying to calm everybody on the court.”

On the other side, Quiri has a shot to break the Southern Arizona kill record of 1,514 kills set by former Tucson standout Mia Sokolowski from 2012-2015. Quiri is about 100 kills away with at least eight matches left in her career.

Ironwood Ridge will host Sahuarita tomorrow night and Mica Mountain will travel to Rio Rico on Thursday.

Kallie George. (Andy Morales Photo/AZPreps365)

Aubrey Necas. (Andy Morales Photo/AZPreps365)

 

Ashlyn Quiri. (Andy Morales Photo/AZPreps365)