The Tuba City Lady Warriors defeated Mesquite Lady Wildcats, a 4A school located in Gilbert twice, en route to earning the championship during the Snowflake Lady Lobos volleyball tournament.

TUBA CITY LADY WARRIORS

During the championship matches, Tuba City posted a 25-10 and 25-20 victory over Mesquite. To reach the tournament finals, Tuba City knocked off Mesquite, 25-21 and 25-15, in the semifinals.

In the championship, Tuba City's Jayda Chee led the team with six kills. Chee, Melia Barlow and Trista Bennett each recorded one block apaied. Barlow added 3 kills for the Lady Warriors.

Emerilee Cowboy and Jadan Sixkiller each turned in two aces apiece for the Lady Warriors. Gracie Henderson and Sixkiller both had six assists.

Mikeya Sheppard posted 12 digs and Chee added nine digs for the Lady Warriors.

During the semifinals of the tournament, Rhiannon Eldridge recorded eight kills, while Chee and Trista Bennett both hammered four kills.

Chee and Bennett both had a pair of blocks against Mesquite.

Lyrissa George and Chee both had an ace apiece. Henderson and Sixkiller both had 10 assists apiece. Sheppard responded with 18 digs.

In a hard fought quarterfinal match, Tuba City defeated Kayenta Monument Valley Lady Mustangs, 21-25, 25-15 and 15-9.

Chee rose to the occasion during the Kayenta Monument Valley match. Chee posted 15 kills and Sheppard added six kills. Chee had two aces and 13 digs. Sheppard had three aces.

Cowboy had 11 digs and Sheppard added 10 digs.

During the first round of the tournament, Tuba City put away Pima Roughriders, 25-19 and 25-12.

Barlow and Chee both had six kills apiece. Bennett had two blocks. Cowboy recorded four aces. Henderson posted 10 assists. Cowboy had 12 digs.

CHINLE LADY WILDCATS

The Chinle Lady Wildcats completed the Snowflake Lady Lobos volleyball tournament pool play with an 1-2 record.

Chinle was placed in the Silver Bracket of the tournament.

In the first match of the tournament, Chinle defeated Round Valley Elks, 2-1.

The loss dropped Chinle into the consolation bracket. Window Rock Lady Scouts beat Chinle, 2-1. In the double elimination bracket, Horizon Honors eliminated Chinle, 2-1.

Chinle head coach Francine McCurtain said the tournament was a great experience for the girls.

"We will continue to learn and move on into our season," McCurtain said. "The tournament has outstanding competition and our Lady 'Cats rose to the occasion when needed. However, we need to learn to stay focus and finish the games. We had chances to finish the third sets, but we stopped passing and attacking .... hence how we lost out. Our mental toughness to get through the barriers of being behind needs a little reminded that we can do it. We can win. This group of girls are very coachable. An soon I see them doing great things this season."

In pool play, Chinle lost to Pima, 2-0.

"We had a rough start, but got it together the second set," McCurtain said. "We had a lead of 23-20. Pima came back and beat us."

Chinle dropped a 2-0 decision to Mesquite. McCurtain said Mesquite is a very tough team. McCurtain said Mesquite ended up taking second place in the Gold Bracket, losing to Tuba City.

Chinle beat Many Farms, 2-0. McCurtain said the Lady Wildcats played Many Farms twice earlier this season. McCurtain said the Lady Wildcats played a lot better than the first two meetings during the regular season.

"Tea Murray and Leilani Black led the team in kills with an average of 7 per game," McCurtain said. "Leilani led in aces with an average of 3 per game. Both are seniors and are doing their best to lead their young team. Libero Namioka Honie led in digs with an average of 9 per game. She did a great every game."

Chinle is 6-6 this season and 0-2 in 3A North Region.

"With the young team I have, we are definitely going to continue to be competitive as much as we can every game," McCurtain said.

Chinle will be playing in the Monument Valley Volleyball Tournament in Kayenta this weekend.

MONUMENT VALLEY LADY MUSTANGS

The Monument Valley Lady Mustangs finished 1-2 won-loss record in the Gold Bracket of the Snowflake Lady Lobos volleyball tournament.

The Lady Mustangs defeated St. Johns, 25-21 and 25-15.

"We started off slow, but we added in some individuals off the bench, that contributed to the win," Monument Valley head coach Rennell Glmore said.

Monument Valley battled Tuba City Lady Warriors, before losing, 25-21, 15-25 and 9-15.

"We started off strong in the first set," Gilmore said. "As the game went on, we started to lose our momentum and we couldn't recover."

Snowflake eliminated Monument Valley from the tournament, 25-23, 19-25 and 9-15.

"We started off a little shaky, but did well in the first set," Gilmore said. "For the next two sets. we just couldn't get back on the same page."

In pool play, Monument Valley defeated Holbrook, 25-18 and 25-16. Gilmore said the Lady Mustangs played well and everyone had a chance to play.

Monumenr Valley lost to Pinon, 21-25 and 23-25. Gilmore said Pinon wasn't afraid to play us and they played well.

Monument Valley stopped Thatcher, 25-22 and 25-20, in the final match in pool play. Gilmore said the Lady Mustangs played tough from the beginning to the end. Gilmore said the Lady Mustangs had goodf momentum during the sets.

Monument Valley is 11-4-1 and 1-0 in 3A North Region. Monument Valley will be at Page to face the Lady Sand Devils this Tuesday.