Once again, the Snowflake Lobos have advanced to the semi-final round of the 3A state volleyball playoffs. The team finished the regular season as the third ranked team and entered the state playoff bracket in that same position.
They faced 14th-seeded Seton Catholic in the opening round on Saturday afternoon at Millennium High School. It only took the higher-ranked Lobos three sets to prove their worth. They defeated the Sentinels 25-18 in the first game, 25-13 in the second and they closed out the match and advanced in the bracket with a 25-18 game three win.
Saturday evening, their opponent in the quarterfinal round was 11th-seeded Thatcher, who had upset No. 6 Show Low in their opening round. The Eagles were playing well and took that momentum from their Show Low win into the match with the Lobos. Thatcher won the first game 19-25. From that point, the Lobos regrouped and won the following three games: 25-17, 25-11 and 25-20.
With that win, they have advanced to Thursday’s semi-final match-up with second-seeded Northwest Christian. The Crusaders cruised past Blue Ridge and ALA West Foothills in their first two rounds.
Northwest finished the regular season with an identical 15-2 record as the Lobos. They were just barely ahead of Snowflake in the final rankings. If Snowflake can get past the Crusaders, they will face either No. 1 Valley Christian or No. 4 Gilbert Christian in the championship match on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Coliseum beginning at 12:15 p.m. Snowflake’s two regular-season losses this year came against those two teams.
Snowflake has a 32-8-4 overall record, including tournament play this season.
