By Greg Perkins Joseph City didn’t play any regular season matches this past week, but they did compete in the Gopher Get Down Tournament played in Florence over the weekend. The Lady Wildcats won their first two pool play matches on Friday picking up 2-0 wins over Cholla and Coolidge. Their final two pool play matches were a 1-2 loss to Williams, and a 0-2 loss to Combs. In bracket play on Saturday, they fell to Mogollon 0-2. In the initial tournament win over Cholla Kate Edwards led the team in kills with 7. Samantha Jesmer added 5. Edwards led in aces as well with 4. Jesmer and Brenlee Hutchens each served 2 aces. Kassidy Juarez led the team in digs with 5. Arami Miller and Jesmer each had four digs. Kayle James had 10 assists. Joseph City defeated Coolidge 25-14 and 25-15 in their second game. In their loss to Williams, Joseph City took the first game 25-16 but lost the second game 22-25, and game three was close but they came up short 14-16. In this loss, Ajhana Tagler led the way in kills with 7. Tyra Dixon added 6 and Edwards had 4. Miller, Juarez and James each served three aces. Tagler was credited with 5 blocks. Juarez and Edwards each led the team in digs with 14 apiece. James led in assists with 9. Their match up with Combs saw the Cats fall to the Coyotes 18-25 and 11-25. Tagler led in kills with 5. Jesmer added 4. Juarez had 7 digs and Jesmer added 5. James had 5 assists. Joseph City returns to regular season action over the next two weeks. After hosting Ash Fork on Thursday, they will travel to face Grand Canyon on Friday. Next week they wrap up the regular season with three matches. They play at Mayer on Monday, host Williams Tuesday, then travel to Anthem Prep for the season finale on Thursday. The 1A volleyball state tournament will be played on the weekend of Nov. 5 and 6. The Lady Wildcats enter this week ranked fourth in the 1A power point standings and will more than likely be a top-eight seed in the state tournament bracket.
