Matadors Volleyball falls 3-2 to Eastern Arizona in Region I title game
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Eastern Arizona College | 25 | 25 | 20 | 25 | 15 | 3 |
|
Arizona Western College | 15 | 19 | 25 | 27 | 12 | 2 |
YUMA, Ariz. – The No. 18 ranked Arizona Western Matadors Volleyball team (19-8) dropped a five set thriller to Eastern Arizona (22-10) in the Region I Championship game on Wednesday night at the House Gymnasium.
Larrynn Joseph-Rodrigues led the Matadors with 18 kills, finishing the match with a double-double and Nehir Erimez recorded 35 assists and 10 digs in the loss.
Eastern Arizona took an early lead in the first set, scoring four of the first six points. After the Gila Monsters went up 8-1, the Matadors cut the deficit to 10-9. Eastern Arizona held the Matadors to just six points for the remainder of the set as Eastern Arizona outscored the Matadors 15-6 to take the first set 25-15.
After the Gila Monsters jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the 2nd set, the Matadors battled back to take tie the set at 10-10. After shortly grabbing the lead at 17-16, Eastern closed out the second set by scoring eight of the final 10 points to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Arizona Western rebounded in the third set, taking an early 5-2 lead on a Joseph-Rodrigues kill. The Matadors went up 22-17 but Eastern scored three consecutive points to cut the Matadors' lead to 22-20 before Arizona Western closed out the set 25-20 to win the third set.
Eastern Arizona took a 4-2 lead in the fourth set, but the Matadors rattled off four straight points to take the lead at 6-4 on a Sevval Aslan kill. After falling behind 18-15, the Matadors crawled back to take a 21-20 lead on a Ma'o Lauhingoa kill. Eastern Arizona took the lead back late, but the Matadors finished off the fourth set on a Gila Monsters' attacking error, 27-25.
The Gila Monsters scored eight of the first 10 points in the fifth set but the Matadors answered, scoring the next 10 points to grab a 10-8 lead. The Matadors only scored two more points, falling in the decisive fifth set, 15-12.
Lauhingoa ended the night with 11 kills and 15 digs as Rana Yamada led the team in digs with 17.
The Matadors will play in one of the two Rocky Mountain District finals, heading north to play the winner of Region 18 on Monday, November 11, at a time to be determined.