YUMA, AZ — After finished second in the standings behind Arizona Western, the EAC volleyball team had to take the long trip to Yuma for the Region 1 Championship game. AWC won the regular season series 2-1, the most recent just 5 days ago in the season finale. Eastern was able to bounce back with a clean 3-0 sweep of the Matadors to capture the Region 1 title.
“I am very proud of these girls and how they played last night, said EAC head coach Shari Kay. “Going into the game I was feeling pretty confident with where we were sitting. I knew AWC could not beat us for a 3rd time. The 2 losses we suffered from AWC were due to “US” – our mistakes, on our side”, Kay added.
EAC dominated the first two sets, winning 25-14 and 25-16. The Matadors kept the final set close but the Monsters blocking was the difference down the stretch and powered them to win set three, 25-22.
“We worked hard in practice to fix some things and the girls made the necessary adjustments. We got them to commit to playing to win, rather than playing not to lose, said coach Kay. “We played a solid 3 sets of clean volleyball”, Kay added.
Eastern Arizona (21-10) will now head to Texas on November 8th for the Southwest District 5B Championship match. However, they don’t know who or where just yet. The Region 5 North tournament is currently underway with the champion set to be crowned on Saturday afternoon. The top 3 seeds in the tournament are Weatherford College, North Central Texas College and Hill College.
Eastern’s Steliyana Chakarova (Bulgaria) was named the Region 1 Championship MVP.
Eastern Arizona also had several players named to the All-ACCAC and All-Region teams.
All-ACCAC Second Team
Kaia Baker (OH), Eastern Arizona
Daniela Jimenez (OH), Arizona Western
Madison Cadden (OH), South Mountain
Aspen Aldous (S), Chandler-Gilbert
Kaydn Osborne (S), Eastern Arizona
Jessica Bright-Schade (OH), Pima
ACCAC Honorable Mention Honors
Gracie Newbern (MB), Glendale
Savannah Davis (MB), Scottsdale
Abby Whatton (OH), Yavapai
Kennedy Dastrup (MB), Chandler-Gilbert
Cayla Gaxiola (Lib), Scottsdale
Olivia Lunt (OH), Eastern Arizona
Taylor Van Winkle (OH), Mesa
Jordan Clouse (MB), Glendale
NJCAA All-Region I, Div. I First Team
Natalia Slazynska (S), Arizona Western
Kaia Baker (OH), Eastern Arizona
Daniela Jimenez (OH), Arizona Western
Kaydn Osborne (S), Eastern Arizona
Abby Whatton (OH), Yavapai
Olivia Lunt (OH), Eastern Arizona
