Volleyball: Mesa rebounds to edge Mtn. View

September 21, 2016 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


The return to playing mostly neighboring/sister schools in region play -- and playing them twice -- is likely going to be a positive whether you reside in a powerhouse region or an ordinary one. The competition in most instances will be fierce. That's what spectators from Mesa Mountain View and Mesa High were treated to Wednesday night.

Mesa's girls volleyball team rode a strong hitting effort over the last two sets from sophomore outside hitter Annie Hatch to gut out a 31-29, 10-25, 21-25, 25-17, 15-12 triumph over Mountain View in a 6A match at well-attended Jackrabbit Gym.

The match was the East Valley Region opener for Mesa and second region road match (in back-to-back nights) for Mountain View. The Toros edged Skyline, 3-2, on Tuesday. Mesa ran its record to 12-9 overall and 4-4 in power-ranking matches. Mountain View dropped to 4-17 overall, 2-5 in power-ranking matches. Mesa shares the early region lead with Red Mountain at 1-0.

Despite dropping the extended first set, Mountain View appeared to have a good chance of winning the match with momentum gained from second and third set wins. Toros senior outside hitter Mala Tukuafu was unstoppable the first two sets and most of the night. She recorded 19 kills in the first two sets and finished with 33. Mountain View survived six set points in the opening set, failed on their lone set-point chance and finally succummbed on a hitting error.

Tukuafu's 10-kill second set led to a second set rout and had Mesa coach Amy Strawn wondering what it would take to slow Tukuafu.

"She's a great player," Strawn said. "Even when we had her lined up, she overpowered us. It was the Mala Tukuafu Show out there."

After Mountain View blew Mesa out in the second set and notched a tight third-set win, Mesa was able to claw back. Annie Hatch, the Jackrabbits leader and best player, became more involved in the attack. Mesa used an 11-3 run to end the set with Hatch registered five kills in that stretch. She finished with a team-high 24 kills. Fourteen of those came in the final two sets.

The fifth set was up for grabs throughout. Mesa forged an 11-11 tie on another Annie Hatch kill and she added two more as the Jackrabbits finished the match with a 5-1 run.

"(Mala) has played great for us," Mountain View coach Tony Millanes said. "She's playing on very sore knees and still gives her all. With a 2-1 lead we should have been able to win it. We're still not committed to playing all out, all the time."

Also chiming in for Mesa were middle blocker Harley Cummard and outside hitter Ashley Hall with 10 and 8 kills, respectively. Freshman setter Kate Hatch added 26 assists and junior Kaitlyn Foster 14 assists and three aces. Mountain View got nine kills apiece from Amanda Page and Makena Christiansen and eight from Jaylee Pothier.