Catalina Foothills went 5-0 to win the Lancer Invitational held Friday and Saturday at Salpointe Catholic but it wasn’t easy. Ranked No. 14 in the 5A Conference with an 8-3 record in ranking matches, the Falcons held off 6A power Rincon/University 2-1 (24-26, 25-18, 15-11) in pool play on Friday and it was a sign of things to come.

The Falcons beat Mountain Ridge 2-0 (25-22, 25-22) to end pool play and the two teams worked their way to the Gold Championship match on Saturday after Mountain Ridge held on to beat Salpointe 2-1 (25-16, 22-25, 15-13) in the first round of bracket play and Catalina Foothills beat Ironwood Ridge 2-0 (25-20, 25-17) in the other side of the bracket.

The Falcons handled the first set with Mountain Ridge by building a 20-13 lead and then playing it out to a 25-18 victory but the second set saw the Mountain Lions shutting down four championship points by the Falcons to win the lengthy battle 31-29.

Mountain Ridge held a slim 20-19 lead in the second set but a kill from Sam Thielen, a block from Nathaniel Roskelley and an ace from Tegan Bernard pushed the Mountain Lions to what looked like a safe 23-19 lead but the Falcons came right back. A kill from London Dyjak was followed by an ace from Cole Revis and then a kill from Tyler DeConcini was followed by a net violation and then another kill from DeConcini resulted in a 5-0 run that brought Catalina Foothills to the first championship point at 24-23.

Mountain Ridge (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

Nathan Rosinski put down a kill from Madduxx Goron to end the threat and then another point put Mountain Ridge up 25-24. DeConcini tied it back up at 25-25 but Thielen put Mountain Ridge back up 26-25. DeConcini scored again and another point brought the Falcons to the second championship point at 27-26 but Rosinski put down another kill to tie the set back up at 27-27.

Logan Freas put the Falcons up 28-27 but the third championship point was stopped by a kill from Tegan Bernard. A long serve gave the Falcons another championship point at 29-28 but the Falcons returned the favor with another service error to tie the set up at 29-29. That was all the Mountain Lions needed and Roskelley scored and then an ace from Goron gave Mountain Ridge a 31-29 win to tie the match up at 1-1.

Catalina Foothills led 13-11 in the third set but a kill from Bernard and another from Thielen tied it up 13-13. A net violation gave the Falcons an advantage at 14-13 and an ace from Kyle Senkerik gave the Falcons the third set at 15-13 and the Invitational Championship over Mountain Ridge 2-1.

Senkerik led the Falcons with 16 assists, Dyjack added 13 assists, DeConcini had 12 kills and Revis had eight. Goron collected 20 assist for Mountain Ridge and Thielen had nine kills.

Rincon/University beat Agua Fria 2-1 (25-16, 20-25, 15-6) to win the Silver Bracket.