Tucson Sahuaro had only lost three non-invitational matches all year but their loss to Tucson Catalina Foothills last Thursday proved to be very costly. The loss dropped the Cougars from a potential super-ranking in the top four in Division II to ninth which meant they would have to travel.

As luck would have it, Vail Cienega had climbed into the eighth spot which meant Sahuaro's trip in the first round would be shorter than expected.

No. 9 Sahuaro had split with No. 8 Cienega at the Marana Mountain View Invitational in early October but the Bobcats pulled ahead in the series with a 3-1 victory heading into the final week of the regular season. Beating a team three times is another matter.

"Playing a team four times is very difficult," explained Cienega head coach Heather Mott. "It gets harder to win the third game and not having a complete team made it even harder for us."

The Bobcats were down a few regular players due to academic issues and an illness which caused rotation and court management issues that proved too difficult to overcome especially with Sahuaro coming at you with standouts such as Victoria Davis and Brielle Sterns.

Kassidy Johnson held the Bobcats together through most of the first set with four kills, a couple of aces and a block but a 20-16 lead was quickly erased thanks to the play of Sterns and Davis.

Still, Cienega found itself up 24-22 after Kali Iago put down back-to-back blocks but a kill by Sterns was followed by a net violation. Sterns hammered home the next shot and Davis put the set away moments later for the 26-24 win.

"I think with the team we had on the court you could say we gave it all we had," said Johnson. "We played our hardest but they are a good team."

Sahuaro had little difficulty in the second set and won it 25-14. The third set went back and forth but Sahuaro pulled away for the 25-20 sweep.

"My seniors McKenzie (Mott), Kassidy and Kayli (Riesgo) played hard and were true leaders out there," added Mott. "It would have been easy to give up but they fought till the last point."

Davis finished with 13 kills and Sterns added eight to go along with four blocks. The hits just kept coming when they were at the net.

"We had some intense practices this week," said Davis. "We knew we were playing a good team and it was going to take work to get the win but it came down to talking and working together.

"That was the difference."

No. 9 Sahuaro will now travel to No. 1 Ironwood Ridge in the quarterfinal round to be held Thursday night. The Nighthawks swept them in September.