Williams Lady Vikes defeat Ash Fork, Joseph City

Wins move Vikings to 11-0; still ranked No. 1 in 1A Conference

WILLIAMS, Ariz. — Williams High School Lady Vikings and Ash Fork Lady Spartans faced off last Sept. 29 in a key North Region volleyball match at Williams. When the final whistle blew, the Vikings emerged victorious, with scores of 25-10, 25-10, and 25-12. They had a great deal of respect for the visitors.

“They were scrappy,” Williams Head Coach Connie Stevens said. “This was a very good volleyball match. They played us tough, and picked up a lot of hard hits. They have a young team. Next year they’ll be very tough.”

The Vikings totaled 44 kills for the match, with nearly half posted by senior Shaelee Echeverria, who wound up with 21 for the night.

Ash Fork coach Erika Acosta was pleased with the outing from a defensive perspective.

“We’re happy with our defense,” she said. “Before regionals, we need to work on our offense.

Aura Mendez led the team with 21 digs, and had 15 serve receives

She’s our defensive specialist, and did a great job,” Acosta said.

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Williams Lady Vikings vs. Ash Fork Sept. 29

Currently, the two teams are first and second in the 1A North Region. After two more weeks of regular play, the two will play in the regionals tournament. The top four teams will advance to the state tournament, held in Phoenix.

For the Lady Vikings, Rory Stevens had 12 serving points, with five aces. She also had 38 assists. Backup setter Brianna Baldosky tallied 33 digs, and six assists.

“Brianna’s going a really good job,” Stevens said. “Offenses are trying to take Rory out of the action, and Brianna’s done a good job of stepping up.”

Lexie Sandoval added 28 digs, and Kyleigh Amos recorded nine serving points, with two aces.

Earlier in the evening, both the freshman and junior varsity teams lost to Ash Fork. Freshman scores were 12-25, and 6-25. JV scores were 16-25, and 23-25.

In a match at Joseph City Oct. 1, Williams continued its winning ways, after the varsity pulled out a slim win in the tie breaker. Scores were 25-23, 25-23, 20-25, 26-28, and 15-12.

“We were evenly matched,” Stevens said. “They have one hitter that is a powerhouse. She’s tall, and we had a lot of trouble handling her. We were slow setting up our blocks. We needed to constantly set up on her, and we can pick up the hits from the others.”

The team totaled 52 team kills.

Rory Stevens had 12 serving points, with six aces, 16 digs, and 48 assists. Baldosky tallied 53 digs and four assists. Amos had 21 digs, six kills and one block. Riley McNelly had two kills and one block. Echeverria and Sandoval each contributed 47 digs, and Kai Mortensen had 33 digs.

On Sept. 23, both varsity and junior varsity teams swept visiting Fredonia in a doubleheader.

“I was pleased with the intensity we had through both matches, “ Stevens said.

Varsity scores for the first match were 25-2, 25-10, and 25-9.

Sandoval led serving points with 15 points, and tallied two aces. She also had 10 digs and one kill. Amos served 13 points, including four aces, three kills, and five digs.

Stevens served 10 points, with four aces, two kills, and a team-high 25 assists, and eight digs. Baldosky tallied seven service points, two assists, and 11 digs.

Echeverria served seven points, two aces, 13 kills, one block, two assists and 12 digs. Kai Mortensen served for six points one ace, four kills, and 12 digs. McNelly had three service points, six kills, and five digs.

Second match scores for the varsity were; 25-7, 25-5, and 26-6.

Stevens led the team with 17 points, including five aces. She also had a team-high 32 assists as well as two kills and four digs. Baldosky served for nine points with two aces, three assists, and 21 digs.

Echeverria tallied six points, with one ace, 22 kills, one block, one assist, 17 digs. Mortensen added eight serving points with two aces, seven kills, and 16 digs. Sandoval added one serving point, and 16 digs.

McNelly had seven serving points with one ace, three kills, three blocks, and four digs. Amos served for 13 points, one ace, three kills, and five digs.

The junior varsity team scores were 25-11, 25-14 for the first match. Second match scores were 25-14, 23-25, 15-10.