It has been a roller coaster ride of a season for the Mingus Marauders volleyball team — multiple wins have been followed by multiple losses leaving the team out of the playoffs with a 7-10 record.
The Marauders held their playoff fate in their own hands in the final week of the season with games against No. 10-seeded Greenway, No. 5 seeded Cactus and the Division IV, No 3 seeded Sedona Red Rock Scorpions.
And although they fought valiantly against all three opponents, three losses were the result equalling no playoff joy for the Marauders.
“Sedona’s not in our division, so I don’t think a win [against them] would have mattered,” said Marauders head volleyball coach Amanda Puckett. “But I did tell [the players] if we worked to win those other two games, and there was another upset or two, it definitely was possible we could make the playoffs.
“Against Greenway they fought so hard — that was probably one of the best games we’ve played all season and we never let up. And against Cactus, I still feel that we could have had that game. It was just something where I felt the girls had maybe checked out a little too soon.”
In their final game of the season, the Marauders were greeted by a large crowd celebrating senior night in the bandbox that is the Sedona Red Rock High School gymnasium and played one of their best games of the season in a 3-0 [25-20, 25-22, 25-20] loss to the Scorpions.
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Nov. 6, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
