Canyon del Oro went 6-0 at the Mountain View Invitational on Friday and Saturday, including a 2-0 win over Cienega in the championship match on Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats battled back from a 1-3 start in pool play with victories over Empire and Mountain View in bracket play to get to the championship match.

Cienega took a 12-7 lead over Canyon del Oro in the first set of the championship match on a block from Kaylie Willis but Alex Jacome hit Macy Whatton three times and Kendall Snyder came up with a block and another kill to give the Dorados a 14-12 lead.

The Bobcats battled back and took an 18-16 lead on a kill from Kamila Velasco to Maisie Schmidt and a block from Aubrey Kallman and an ace from Aly Valenzuela put Cienega up 23-20 but the Dorados closed the set out on a 5-0 run. Jacome hit Whatton and Snyder to start the run and then a couple of aces from Maya Rivera put the Dorados up 24-23 and then Snyder came up with a kill for the 25-23 win.

In the second set, Cienega built a 20-15 lead but Whatton capped an 8-2 run on an ace to put Canyon del Oro up 23-22. A net violation put the Dorados up 24-22 but the Bobcats cut the lead down to 24-23 before Kendall came up with her eighth kill of the match for the 25-23 win.

Jacome finished with 23 assists and Whatton also had eight kills for the Dorados. Kallman had eight assists for Cienega and Velasco had six. Willis finished with six kills.

Canyon del Oro is 9-5 in power-ranking matches and the team is currently ranked No. 13 in the 4A Conference. The team will travel to No. 30 Pueblo (5-7) on Tuesday. Cienega (8-6) is No. 20 in the 5A Conference and the Bobcats will host No. 37 Nogales (3-9) on Monday.

Mountain View beat St. David to take third place and the Mountain Lions are ranked No. 7 in 5A Conference with a trip to No. 45 Cholla (0-13) on Monday. St. David (13-1) is the top-ranked team in the 1A Conference and the Tigers will travel to Nogales on Tuesday to play Lourdes Catholic (2-7). The Warriors are unranked due to too few matches scheduled to meet the minimum to be ranked.

 

Alex Jacome had 23 assists for Canyon del Oro. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)