Vail Empire is perfect again. With one match remaining on their sectional schedule, the Ravens have gone undefeated for the second year in a row to capture another sectional championship.

The Ravens have swept every non-invitational opponent this year dating back to a 3-2 loss to Oro Valley Canyon del Oro on September 24th. That's 30-0. How difficult is that? Well Tucson Amphitheater almost put an end to it.

Like the Ravens, the Panthers came into the title match with a perfect 8-0 record in Division III/Section II with a shot at the sole playoff spot that comes with the section championship. With both teams currently ranked outside of the top 16, the winner would be in the playoffs and the loser would most likely be sent home.

After senior outside Macee Owen paced Empire to a 25-15 win in the first set with eight kills, the Panthers came out strong in the second set and built a 21-17 lead. The lead would blossom to 24-20 and Empire's perfect run was about to come to an end.

"I was proud of my team and how we responded," said Owen. "I had faith in them and we started to feed off the crowd and we pulled it off."

Aided by four service errors down the stretch, the Ravens pulled even at 24-24 on a kill from Owen but a net violation gave Amphi a 25-24 lead only to see another service error tie it back up at 25-25.

"Our serves were crucial," explained Amphi head coach Tim Nordensson. "We average around 10 aces a match and it is a very important part of our game. Still, I'm proud of the way they responded in a game like this.

"Our girls have been in the program for a while and this group is more passionate about volleyball than anything else in their lives. They really stepped it up this year."

Even though Owen put the second set away on another kill (27-25) to complete the comeback and save their streak, the Panthers gave Empire all it could handle.

"I was nervous because Amphi gave a lot of teams good games this year," added Owens. "Every team we played close they did also. We also lost Alexis Roether to an ankle injury so I knew we were in trouble."

Roether is fourth on the team in kills and it is unclear if she will be available for the playoffs.

Now down two sets, Amphi gave another early effort in the deciding third set but Empire slowly pulled away for the 25-18 win.

'The core of our team is sophomores," explained Empire coach Danny Arias. "Nine players are coming back from this team."

Despite winning the section last year and making the playoffs two years in a row prior to this year, The Ravens have not been able to get past the first round of the state playoffs.

"Our focus is to try to play better in state," added Arias. "We need to compete. It's a matter of giving effort and I think we have the team to do it."

The Division III state playoffs will be played at the Prescott Valley Event Center beginning on Friday, November 7.  There will be a 16-team bracket with five automatic bids and 11 at-large qualifiers based on ranking.

The Ravens may have moved into the top 16, saving another team from being bumped, but, either way, they have qualified for the playoffs. They still have two home matches scheduled for next week with the volleyball playoff selection show scheduled for Friday, October 31 at 3 pm.

As mentioned before, this match was Amphi's playoff game because they are ranked too far out of the top 16 to earn an at-large bid. The Panthers also have two matches next week.

The Panthers were led by Macie John, Carolina Vivian-Vea, Nicole Breidenbach and Vanessa Ruiz. Owen finished with 15 kills and 10 digs to lead Empire.

Kayla Long, Kacey Seeloff and Racquel James helped pace the Ravens to the win.

 

NOTE

Ironwood Ridge won the Division II/Section V championship late Thursday night with a win over San Tan Valley Poston Butte. The Nighthawks are the top ranked team in Division II.

The D-II state tournament will begin Tuesday, November 4 with the first two rounds to be hosted by a high seed.

Ironwood Ridge senior Aunesty Jantz is closing in on 1,000 kills for her career. She is second (969 heading into tonight's match) on the Nighthawk's list behind Michaela Christiaansen (1,096).

 

More photos at AllSportsTucson.com