Eve Pearson goes up for the kill. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

Canyon del Oro swept Tucson 3-0 Tuesday night to help open the girls volleyball season after a handful of teams played on Monday night. A full slate of matches is expected the rest of the week, leading up to the first weekend of invitationals.

The Goldwater Volleyball Festival, the Southwest Challenge, the Kellis Cougar Invitational and the TUSD Invitational are all scheduled to begin play on Friday with the championship matches following on Saturday.

The Dorados were led by senior outside Eve Pearson with 14 kills and four aces in a match filled with new faces. In all, the Dorados lost 10 seniors to graduation including three of their top four attackers, six of the top seven defenders and their number one setter. The Badgers lost four seniors including all-around athlete Neysia Howard and starting setter Samantha Medina.

The Dorados took the first set 25-21 and the second set by the same score before closing out the match with a 25-11 finish in the deciding third set. Pearson’s four aces helped offset an unusually high 14 service errors by the Dorados and it was clear both squads were a bit rusty and searching for chemistry on the court.

The teams will have little time to work on what they saw with Canyon del Oro (1-0) hosting Amphitheater (0-0) on Thursday night and Tucson (0-1) visiting Cholla (0-1) Wednesday. The Badgers are taking part in the TUSD Invitational along with 15 other teams from Southern Arizona.

 

TUSD Volleyball Invitational

Aug. 31-Sept. 1: Sabino High School

 

Friday, Aug. 31

Santa Rita vs. Buena, 9 a.m.

Cholla vs. Amphitheater, 9 a.m.

Catalina vs. Desert Christian, 9 a.m.

Tucson vs. Rio Rico, 9 a.m.

Nogales vs. Empire, 10 a.m.

Sabino vs. Rincon/UHS, 10 a.m.

Palo Verde vs. Sahuaro, 10 a.m.

Pueblo vs. Tanque Verde, 10 a.m.

Buena vs. Nogales, 11 a.m.

Rincon/UHS vs. Rio Rico, 11 a.m.

Cholla vs. Sahuaro, 11 a.m.

Desert Christian vs. Tanque Verde, 11 a.m.

Palo Verde vs. Amphitheater, Noon

Pueblo vs. Catalina, Noon

Empire vs. Santa Rita, Noon

Sabino vs. Tucson, Noon

Pueblo vs. Desert Christian, 1 p.m.

Buena vs. Empire, 1 p.m.

Cholla vs. Palo Verde, 1 p.m.

Rio Rico vs. Sabino, 1 p.m.

Santa Rita vs. Nogales, 2 p.m.

Tucson vs. Rincon/UHS, 2 p.m.

Sahuaro vs. Amphitheater, 2 p.m.

Catalina vs. Tanque Verde, 2 p.m.

 

Saturday, Sept. 1

Bracket Play (8 a.m.-3 p.m.)