Down 2-1 at No. 2 Canyon del Oro, No. 3 Estrella Foothills battled the Dorados to the last point in the fourth set in what became one of the more memorable sequences in playoff history. The winner would advance to play No. 1 Notre Dame on Saturday for the 4A championship and the loser would stay home.

The Dorados had a lot of special teams over the years, including the more recent ones coached by Mike Owens, but none made it to the last day of the year for a variety of reasons including competing in the 5A level but something feels different this year.

“You know, it's hard to really put our finger on it, I think that we started the whole year in a whole different mindset, even myself,” Owens said. “I think sometimes I was a real big obstacle given how I coached them really hard. Then the girls adapted to a whole new kind of a more open sort of system and I allowed them to kind of take more of a leadership of the program and they brought in.”

The more "open system" for the Dorados came into play in the fourth set.

Estrella Foothills standout Sara Betts put the Wolves up 18-14 on an ace and it looked like the semifinal match would extend to a deciding fifth set but Kaytlyn Hawkins hit Alina Nunez to cut the lead to 18-15 and then Hawkins turned to Abby Whatton for three straight kills and the set was tied at 18-18. It was a preview of what was to come.

Nunez put down a block of her own to put the Dorados up 23-21 and it looked like the Wolves were done but Raegan Moran found Emma Barber on the outside and then the Dorados failed to return a volley and the set was tied at 23-23. Madisson Navarrete set Nunez to bring the Dorados to their first match-point at 24-23 but a violation tied things up 24-24.

Jazzlee Acosta picked up an ace to put the Wolves up 25-24 but the Dorados turned the set back to take a 26-25 lead on another kill from Nunez. Aubrey Goodere scored to turn the Dorados away on their second match-point and then the Wolves went up 27-26. A service error ended the second set-point for the Wolves but Goodere scored again to make it 28-27.

Emma Barber broke the 1,000 kill mark on the year. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

Hawkins turned to Whatton again for back-to-back kills, stopping another chance for Estrella Foothills to get the match to another set while putting the Dorados up 29-28 in the process. The Wolves scored again and a net violation ended the third match-point for the Dorados and the Wolves went back up 30-29.

Whatton made it 30-30 but another service error brough the Wolves to another set-point at 31-30 only to be turned back by a net violation to tie the match back up at 31-31. Nunez picked up her 21st kill to make it 32-31 Canyon del Oro and then the Wolves failed to return a volley and the Dorados pulled out a 33-31 win in the marathon set.

“I'm like, why, what, what happened? I was freaking out and we were thinking, let's just do it,” an emotional Nunez said on the craziness of the deciding set.

The Dorados had very few answers for Goodere in the middle and the 6-foot-2 sophomore finished with 15 kills but Barber led the Wolves with 20 kills and she will take her incredible 1,073 kills to Embry Riddle. Barber is already a pilot and she will be able to continue her aviation studies with the Eagles. Moran finished with 42 assists for the Wolves.

Alina Nunez. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

The Dorados held on to win the first set 25-23 on a block from Nunez, followed by a kill from Whatton and an ace from Nunez but the second set went with the Wolves with most the damage coming on serves. The Wolves picked up five aces and cashed in on two service errors in the match and those seven points proved too much to overcome and the Wolves tied the match up 1-1 on a 25-17 win. Canyon del Oro coasted to a 25-13 win in the third set to bring us to the deciding fourth set.

Nunez had her 21 kills but Whatton came through with 26 and Hawkins and Navarrete combined for 40 assists in the win.

Canyon del Oro is now 21-0 on the year with a championship match against No. 1 Notre Dame (20-1) set for Saturday at the Arizona Veteran's Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix with the starting time slated for 3 p.m.

Notre Dame beat No. 4 Salpointe 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-13) in the other 4A semifinal of the night to set up the championship match. Salpointe finished the year 17-3 with two losses coming to the Dorados in the regular season.

The Lancers beat Notre Dame in an epic 3-2 (25-22, 15-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-11) match last year to win the 4A state championship and the Saints will be going for it all again on Saturday with the last state championship for the program coming in 2015.

Estrella Foothills finished the season with a 17-2 record and the Wolves lost to Greenway 3-2 (25-10, 25-19, 25-27, 18-25, 15-9) in the 2019 state final.

With all this recent success one would think the Dorados would be right there but the program lost to Camelback 2-1 (15-13, 2-15, 15-11) on Saturday, Nov. 2, 1980, in the 5A state championship. Some 41 years later, the Dorados will finally get a taste of what the other top teams have been enjoying – win or lose.

Nunez plays club ball in the Phoenix area and she transferred to CDO from Valley Vista after her freshman year so the junior is very aware of the talent in Phoenix.

“I know a lot of those girls but I'm going to give my all and if I'm going down I’m going to give everything,” Nunez added. “I hope that my team thinks that way too.”

Senior libero Morgan Haines will be playing for Pima next year but the defensive leader has seen her share of the recent Dorado history and she had a feeling this year was going to be special.

“At the beginning of this season, tryouts came and you could just tell right away, like we played really well together,” Haines explained. “I mean we’ve been good all the years, but this year it's just like something special."

Estrella Foothills returns a very strong group next fall. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)