Gabe Riggs had 21 digs for Mountain View. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

The initial AIA boys volleyball rankings were released on Monday morning and six of the top ten teams were from Southern Arizona, including the top spot, taken by Mountain View Marana.

Mountain View (8-1 overall, 3-1 in the 5A Southern Region) fell to No. 6 Cienega in three sets at home Monday night which means we will have a new top-ranked team come Tuesday. Cienega (6-1, 3-0) is sure to move up the rankings with No. 2 Deer Valley, No. 3 American Leadership, No. 4 Ironwood Ridge and No. 5 Sunrise Mountain all idle.

Cienega took the first set 25-14 after jumping out to a quick start. The second set was in doubt, but three straight ball-handling violations helped shift the lead from Mountain View to Cienega midway through the set with the Bobcats opening up a 16-12 lead after scoring five straight.

Cienega was able to build a 22-15 lead from there but the Mountain Lions chipped away to cut the lead down to 24-23 but a kill from Wyatt Prentice put the set away for Cienega, 25-23. Mountain View led 20-18 in the third set but back-to-back violations was the issue once more and Cienega went on to take a 22-20 lead.

The Mountain Lions battled back again and made it 22-22 after an ace from Tanner Harline but a kill by Kalani Headen was followed by a block from Prentice and then a game-winner from Prentice for the 25-22 final score.

Mountain View still has impressive power-point wins over highly-ranked teams like Tucson, Ironwood Ridge, Sahuaro and Pueblo so expect the Mountain Lions to remain near the top and fighting for a top-eight spot to avoid the play-in tournament.

The play-in tournament for 5A and 6A will take place on Thursday, May 3 with the first-round of the 16-team state brackets set for Saturday, May 5. The top team from each region will earn an automatic berth to post season play.

Elijah Elmer and Tanner Meyers led Mountain View with 10 kills and Darean Schug put up 18 assists. Gabe Riggs finished with 21 digs which served as a testament to the aggressiveness of the Bobcats.

Carson Mott distributed 33 assists for the Bobcats with Bryan Serventi collecting 13 of those. Prentice, Isaiah Buster, and Headen added seven assists each and Javi Somers had 10 digs.

Mountain View is hosting “The View Invitational” this Friday and Saturday with 12 teams scheduled to take part. Pool Play is slated to start Friday at 1 p.m. with Bracket Play scheduled for Saturday.