By Raymundo Frasquillo
MORENCI – Benson left Wildcat Memorial Gymnasium with a 2A East Region four-set win Sept. 12. Morenci had a 25-20 set one win, but the Bobcats won the next three (25-22, 25-23, 25-16) to take the match.
“We had a lot of unforced errors,” second-year head coach Rhyanna Mennen said. “I thought our physical play was good. It was our mental game that was not there.”
Photo By Raymundo Frasquillo: Senior lead-off server Audrey Castillo had a 96 (24-25) percent rate against the Bobcats. The team ended with a 95 (83-87) percent serve rate verses 90 (83-02) for Benson.
With the score tied at 22-22 in the second set, an ace serve was sandwiched in between a wide block and wide pass to give the Bobcats the win.
Trailing 18-24 in the third set, a Destiny Apodaca kill, a Bobcats wide pass, plus two Alexis Gregory kills and a Tatiana Sandoval hit narrowed the deficit to one (23-24) before a Bobcats block gave the visitors a two-set edge.
A total of 15 errors gave the visitors 10 points they earned during the fourth set en route to a 25-16 win.
Morenci’s loss had the Wildcats with an unofficial serve percentage of 95 (83-87) compared to 90 (83-92) for the Bobcats.
Following the initial full rotation, the Wildcats were 18-18 while Benson was 10-10, but Morenci had a 16-11 advantage. The first full rotation of the second set found the score tied 12-12 and both teams went 12-12 in serves.
Individually, serve percentages were 96 (24-25) for lead-off senior server Audrey Casillas, 94 (15-16) for No. 2 senior Destiny Apodaca, 100 (9-9) for junior Alexis Gregory, 100 (7-7) for senior Tatiana Sandoval, 89 (16-18) for sophomore Angel Ontiveros, 100 (2-2) for junior Rhiannon Lang, and 100 (10-10) for senior Shaunee Seballos.
The Wildcats’ returned with three wins from their previous outing at Miami Sept. 5, the frosh (1-0 overall) in two sets (25-14, 25-17), the junior varsity (2-1 overall) in three sets (17-25, 25-13, 15-7), and the varsity (6-4 overall, 2-1 seeding) in five sets (25-27, 19-25, 25-15, 25-8, 15-12).
Morenci (6-6 overall, 0-1 region, 2-2 seeding) is at Pima Thursday, Sept. 14, and hosts both Miami and Willcox on Sept. 19 and 20, respectively.
