Rincon/UHS 3, Flowing Wells 0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-17)

 

RINCON/UNIVERSITY

KILLS: Victoria Corona 8; Reilly Salkowski 4; Cate Webb 2; Jordan Grier 2; Lillian Hanna 2; Jennifer Angier 2; Kayla Conway 1; Larissa Rocha 1. ACES: Corona 4; Hannah Parish 3; Aydalis Felix 1; Hanna 1. ASSISTS: Parish 11; Hanna 6; Taylor Carloss 1. DIGS: Corona 7; Salkowski 6; Webb 6; Hana 5; Conway 4; Parish 3; Carloss 1; Rocha 1. BLOCKS: Webb 3; Corona 3; Salkowski 1; Angier 1

FLOWING WELLS

KILLS: Channa Leyva 4; Paulina Velderrain 3; Loreana Leyva 3; Aubrie Black 2; Illiana Leibas 2; Elyssa Evano 1. ACES: Evano 2; Black 1; Yazmin Lopez 1. ASSISTS: Claire Connell 7; Evano 4; Velderrain 4. DIGS: Black 13; Lopez 8; Velderrain 5; Evano 4; Connell 4; Karen Villegas 2; Alex Boyer 1; Velderrain 1. BLOCKS: Leibas 1; L. Leyva 1.

 

Simply, Rincon/UHS is loaded. The graduation of two standouts such as Rachel Dveirin and Hattie Houser would have been a cause for concern in the past but not with this group. After missing the playoffs and barely breaking in even in 2014 (15-13) the Rangers turned around and finished 18-12 last year and the team did it with only those two seniors on the roster.

“We are very experienced this year with five starters returning,” head coach Nick Mata said. “We had a great season last year and it was the best finish since 2013 (28-12) when we had five girls go on to play in college.

“We were young last year but this is a great team,” he added.

That experience was evident Tuesday night when Rincon/UHS (1-0) got past Flowing Wells 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-17) in the first match of the season for both teams.

Flowing Wells (0-1) was able to keep pace in each of the three sets but the depth, size and experience coming from the Rangers proved too much to overcome and each set slowly slipped away.

“We have a lot of heart and we are trying a new lineup and we are learning to play with each other,” head coach Bridget Betterton explained.

“Unfortunately, we are also vertically challenged and we have to rely on defense,” she added. “When that happens, it’s very easy for things to come apart more easily.”

Betterton guided the Caballeros to a 14-15 record last year which turned out to be the best outing for the program in a generation and she did it with six seniors on the roster. The bulk of her offense and defense is now gone but standouts such as Paulina Velderrain remain.

Velderrain was a leader in almost every statistical category for the Caballeros against Rincon, along with twins Channa and Loreana Leyva, but the play of standouts such as Victoria Corona, Lillian Hanna and Hannah Parish proved too much to overcome.

“We have depth which is something we haven’t had and we will be running an offense that will give us more opportunities to use all of our players,” Mata added.

Rincon has been bumped up to the 6A Conference while Flowing Wells will compete in the 5A Conference where the team will have a chance for success in the newly-formed Sonoran Region.

Rincon is slated to take part in the TUSD Tournament held at Palo Verde this Friday and Saturday while Flowing Wells will be hosting their own tournament the following weekend.