Volleyball Playoffs: Amphitheater, Catalina and Ironwood Ridge survive
by Andy Morales on Nov. 12, 2009, under SportsVolleyball Playoffs
There was an upset, four area teams lost in the second round tonight and the two top rated teams were pushed to the limit. Amphitheater, Catalina and Ironwood Ridge survive.
4A I
Sabino's Maddie Bushman
It was a bad night for our 4A teams. Each lost to higher seeds in a combined set total of 9-1. 8 CDO lost to 1 Sunnyslope 3-0; 6 Sabino lost to 3 Prescott 3-1; 7 Cienega lost to 2 Cactus Shadows. In fact, all four top seeds advanced in this division.
Some of the areas top players can now focus on their club teams and recruiting.
4A II
2 Catalina advanced over 7 Notre Dame as expected but they weren’t expected to take five sets to do it. After being up 2-0, Notre Dame forced a fifth set where Catalina won 15-12.
They now play Saturday at 830 am against 3 Seton Catholic at Hamilton High School in Chandler.
5 Amphi provided the upset of the night as they traveled to Phoenix to defeat 4 Greenway 3-1. They will now face 1 Cactus at 1015 am Saturday at Hamilton High School.
5A I
Haley Howell of Salpointe
Salpointe lost to 2 Gilbert 3-0 but they pulled off a great upset in the first round to make it this far.
5A II
Like Catalina, 1 Ironwood Ridge was expected to advance. But, like Catalina, they weren’t expecting a 5 set match against 8 O’Connor at home but they got one.
The Nighthawks were down 1-0 (18-25) and then they split the next two sets to go down 2-1.
On the brink of elimination, Ironwood Ridge won the fourth set 29-27 to force a fifth where they won 15-11.
They will now play 5 Horizon at Hamilton High School, Saturday at 1:45.
Horizon defeated 13 Rincon 3-0. Like Salpointe, Rincon had a great upset over a 4 seed on Tuesday to make it this far.
