Ryan Glover is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Central High School for AZPreps365.com.

 

Yee Haw! Monday was a wild ride as Central High School dueled McClintock High School in a wild west desert showdown.

Fans were greeted with country music blaring; cowboy hats and flannels all throughout the stands. Central hosted a country theme night where even head coach Kristin Harris dressed up in overalls, a flannel and braids.

Central fought for its third consecutive section win but fell short losing 3-1. Staying put in fourth place in the 5A Metro Region and with an overall record of 6-4. McClintock added to its three section wins, putting the team at 6-3 overall.

McClintock secured the win by two sets, but each set was a tight battle. Head Coach Jacob Laikona said he thought the girls played well because a win is a win, but each set should not have been so close.

“Obviously, they got the win, they played good, but we made lots of mistakes, which made the game closer than it needed to be,” Laikona said.

McClintock’s key player was out due to injury, which concerned Laikona about the team’s performance.

“We are adjusting for her not being there, so we just adjust another player in the missing piece of the puzzle,” Laikona said. “She does a good job of covering a lot of the course, so after they lost the first set, and they got comfortable that hole was filled.”

Captain Rachel Reddie sat out for injury and cheered on the team from the sidelines. Laikona said she will return soon.

To fill Reddie’s shoes, someone had to step up. Going into the third set the game was tied 1-1. Sophomore libero, Haley Anaya, decided she was the one and got work done for her team serving six aces with four of the six in a row.

“I focus on who is messing up a lot, so I usually try to strategize where I hit the ball,” Anaya said.

By focusing on the other team’s weaknesses and, aiming for the corners and gaps between players, she finished the match with nine aces.

Anaya said she played a great game but knows the team could have played better. Central had a season-high of five double hits.

“Usually, we’re a faster paced team, and we have a lot more energy, but I think in the future we’ll have better games,” Anaya said.

Central’s head coach, Harris, said she was not happy with the results and started getting frustrated in the third set, yelling at her team and looking unhappy after every point. It all started after a wrong player was subbed off the court. Instead of taking the front blocker off, the libero came off instead.

“It just pissed me off and messed up everything,” Harris said.

This subbing error happened toward the end of the set with the score 23-11. The error messed up Central’s rotation, causing players to be out of place until they rotated to the correct spot.

Central had eight missed serves and gave over 20 free balls to McClintock. Harris knew the team could play better.

“After the first set, we stopped covering our donut. We didn’t play defense,” Harris said. “We were not converting our serves or our hits tonight."