LINK: FREE MATCH PHOTOS
Catalina Foothills moved up the 5A Conference in the offseason and it looks like the Falcons might have one of their most successful seasons since the 2014 campaign where the Falcons finished 28-4 with a spot in the Division II semifinals. While no one is predicting that kind of success, the Falcons control their own destiny and the team solidified that position with a 3-0 victory over Mountain View at home Monday night.
Mountain View standout setter Jaelin Reeb – one of Southern Arizona’s best @mountainview_vb pic.twitter.com/Snrj33vh8D
— Andy Morales (@AndyMorales8) October 27, 2020
The victory moved Catalina Foothills to 4-1 on the year and the Mountain Lions dropped to 2-6. The Falcons also have one big hurdle and that’s the number of matches on its schedule. 5A teams must play a minimum of ten matches to make the state playoffs and the Falcons only have 11 matches scheduled. In the COVID era, that’s cutting it close.
Mountain View lost six seniors to graduation but senior setter Jaelin Reeb is more than ready to lead the team. She had a match-high 21 assists with Myra Johnson (11 kills) her main target but the team had difficulty closing the deal in the final moments of each set.
Mountain View took a 18-15 lead on a Reeb to Johnson kill in the first set but the Falcons also have a pair of standouts in junior setter Ava Pritz (18 assists) and junior hitter Lauren Rumel (12 kills). Pritz found Rumel and then Alexis Lain to cut the lead down to 18-17 and then Rumel served up two aces to give Catalina Foothills 19-18 lead.
Reeb hit Johnson again to tie the set up and the teams batted to a 21-21 tie but Reeb found Annika Revis to break the tie and the Falcons went on to take the first set 25-21 with Revis scoring on a block to close it out.
6-2 Lauren Rumel is only a junior for Catalina Foothills – plays and hits like a senior @CfhsVolley pic.twitter.com/ENgG7mfzBW
— Andy Morales (@AndyMorales8) October 27, 2020
The teams played it close again in the second set with the Falcons clinging to a 19-18 lead but a 6-2 run brought a 25-20 victory to put Catalina Foothills up 2-0. The deciding set played out much the same with Catalina Foothills ending the set on a 9-3 run to break a 16-16 tie. The 25-19 win closed out the 3-0 victory.
Catalina Foothills travels to Flowing Wells (3-5) Tuesday night and Mountain View will visit Casa Grande (5-7) the same night.
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Andy Morales was recognized by the AIA as the top high school reporter in 2014, he was awarded the Ray McNally Award in 2017, a 2019 AZ Education News award winner and he has been a youth, high school and college coach for over 30 years. He was the first in Arizona to write about high school beach volleyball and high school girls wrestling. His own children have won multiple state high school championships and were named to all-state teams. Competing in hockey, basketball, baseball and track & field in high school, his unique perspective can only be found here and on AZPreps365.com. Andy is the Southern Arizona voting member of the Ed Doherty Award, recognizing the top football player in Arizona, and he was named a Local Hero by the Tucson Weekly for 2016. Andy was named an Honorary Flowing Wells Caballero in 2019 and he was a member of the Amphi COVID-19 Blue Ribbon Committee and was given the Amphi Distinguished Service Award. Contact Andy Morales at amoralesmytucson@yahoo.com
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