When the Mingus volleyball team hosted Coconino on Thursday, Oct. 1, the Marauders showed that they could compete with the Panthers and even get the better of the action for extended stretches. Unfortunately for Mingus, that wasn’t enough for a victory.
The Marauders started hot, holding a big lead throughout the first set, opening up a 1-0 lead with a 25-18 victory. But Coconino evened things up with a 25-20 win in the second set and proceeded to win the third and fourth sets by the same margin to post a 3-1 victory.
“That mindset has got to be confidence — confidence in who we are — our game, our play,” Mingus Coach Hunter Tibbs said. “I like our play, I like our game. The girls are just constantly relearning. They’re learning how to be a winning program. That’s part of it. Being able to put teams away. Being able to compete and finish.”
The critical portion of the match came in the third set. The Marauders came out strong, scoring nine of the first 10 points. Leading 19-12 late in the set, Mingus was poised to go up 2-1. The Panthers ended up being the team to go up 2-1, though, as they scored 13 of the final 14 points to win the set.
For a while in the fourth set, it looked as though the Marauders would shake that tough loss off, as they led 15-12. But it was all Coconino from there. The Panthers scored the next six points to open up an 18-12 lead and went on to a 25-20 win in the set to close out a 3-1 win.
“The score was fairly close in that last one. I didn’t see too much carry over from that [third] game,” Tibbs said. “But being a winning program is different. We had Prescott 23-23. We were way up on those girls, too. We have to learn how to continue to put the drive on. But we’re learning. We’re growing as a team.”
Senior Shelby Link led the Marauders with five kills on the night. Juniors McKell Gordon and Brynley Lynch each had three aces. Lynch, Link and senior Chayce Doerksen had three blocks each, senior Sadie Backus had six digs while Geneva Altamirano led the way with five assists.
Mingus will be in action next on Thursday, Oct. 8, with a 6 p.m. home game against Flagstaff.
The Marauders are now 2-3 on the young season. The loss to the Panthers was their third 3-1 loss in a row. After starting the season 2-0, Mingus has now lost three straight, with losses to Prescott and Lee Williams proceeding the loss to Coconino. Despite losing three in a row, Tibbs is encouraged with the progress and direction of the young team.
“I’m excited where we’re at and excited from what I saw tonight; It’s going to be a good future for this program,” he said. “We had a lot of young girls in there tonight. We have only three seniors and maybe two to three juniors and I think only one of those juniors has actually played varsity. There are a lot of fresh faces. They’re battling, they’re fighting, and I really like that. I saw a little more fight from our girls tonight and that’s awesome.”
