Cactus Shadows junior standout Jake Benanti played as even as can play to capture the championship of the Rivalry Cup held this past Friday and Saturday at the Stonecreek Golf Club. Benanti shot an even 71 on Friday and an even 71 (142) to defeat Highland senior Brock Goyen 142-148.
Cienega went 4-6 last year and missed the state playoffs. Watching other teams play in the postseason was territory the power-program was not used to but that nightmare appears to be over thanks, in part, to a 42-0 win over Flowing Wells Friday night because that win gave the Bobcats a 4-0 record. Going back to last year, the Bobcats have won seven in a row.
Ironwood Ridge improved to 5-0 on the year after beating Rincon/University 3-1 (25-21, 17-25, 25-13, 25-22) Tuesday night at home. With the win, head coach Bill Lang joined Juanita Kingston and Sandy Novak in the 400-win club for girls’ volleyball from Southern Arizona.
Pusch Ridge outlasted Safford 40-17 to improve to 2-1 on the year and it took a perfect night from a backup quarterback trying to make his own identity on a championship team to get it done.
Mountain View put together over 600 yards of offense Thursday night to get past Sunnyside 52-8. The win pushed the Mountain Lions to 2-1 on the year while the Blue Devils fell to 2-2. The win also avenged a 46-20 loss to Sunnyside last year that ultimately prevented the Mountain Lions from making the playoffs.
Mountain View swept district rival Marana 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-15) Wednesday night to improve to 6-5 overall and 1-3 in regular season matches. The win came one day after taking power-program Salpointe to five sets at home before dropping the fifth set 15-8.
There will be a new champion at the Flowing Wells Volleyball Imitational this year, guaranteed. Catalina Foothills won the invitational last year and the year but Sahuarita, the 2015 runner-up, is still in the field.
Lang is already on the fabled Mt. Rushmore (in terms of wins) of volleyball coaches from Southern Arizona along with Juanita Kington (Rincon/University), Sandy Novak (Sahuaro), Melva Lundy (Canyon del Oro) and Heather Moore-Martin (Green Fields, Catalina & Salpointe). Kingston and Lundy have retired while Novak is still coaching at Sahuaro and Moore-Martin is at Salpointe.
Sahuaro went undefeated to capture the championship of the TUSD Girls Volleyball Invitational held at Palo Verde High School of Friday and Saturday. Sahuaro withstood a difficult semifinal match against Rincon/University before defeating Sabino 2-0 (25-14, 25-15) in the final match.
Desert Ridge has been on a major roll. The Jaguars have finished with at least 10 wins a year since 2010 and 11 wins since 2012 but it doesn’t seem to matter that the Jaguars finished runner-up in the state’s highest division last year, the team feels they have to prove themselves all over again.
Canyon del Oro scored an even 144 to get past Rincon/University (154) and Flowing Wells (216) at the Oro Valley Country Club on Thursday. Trevor Gregoire and Lance Picton paced the Dorados with a 1-under 35. Rincon standout Dallan Graybill also shot a 35.
BOYS: Salpointe 37, Canyon del Oro 45, Vista Grande 48
1: Johnny Desanti, Vista Grande: 17:09.77
2: Isaiah Guevara, Canyon del Oro: 17:10.23
3: Johnny Hernandez, Salpointe: 18:50.19
GIRLS: Salpointe 36, Vista Grande 45, Canyon del Oro DNS
1: Ana Alvarez-Tostado, Salpointe: 20:12.20
2: Zoe Delgado, Salpointe: 20:18.46
3: Katie Bruno, Canyon del Oro: 21:59.85
I went 13-0 in my picks for Southern Arizona last week and here are my 26 picks for this Friday night. Several of the games are toss-ups at this point. We should get a clear picture on where teams stand after week three.
Ironwood Ridge beat Marana 62-42 Friday night in a game defined by turnovers, long runs and seemingly little defense. I guess one would have had to see the game in person to realize Marana (0-1) is not as bad as the final score indicates and Ironwood Ridge (1-0) is not quite as good as the 62 points indicates.