Lady Cats Win Title At JCHS Invitational

By Greg Perkins
   The Lady Wildcats didn’t drop a single game on the way to winning their own Joseph City Invitational volleyball tournament last weekend. They easily won all six matches of pool play, then walked through three matches of bracket play en route to beating St. Johns in the title match. Thirteen 1A and 2A schools competed in the tourney.
   Playing single game matches in pool play the Lady Cats took down Seligman, 25-19; Rock Point, 25-10; St. Michaels, 25-13; Many Farms, 25-3; Northland Prep, 25-16; and Piñon, 25-4.
   Those wins put them into the bracket where they beat Ash Fork, 25-9 and 25-14. In that win, Sammi Perry had two kills and four digs; Shelby Fish, two kills, an ace, a block, 13 assists and 4 digs; Allysa Dixon, a kill; Mackenzie Fields, five kills, three blocks and two digs; Tori Mosier, four kills, two aces, a block, an assist and six digs; Linsey Wouters, six kills, two aces, an assist and three digs; Kaylee Pugh, two digs; Lexi Edwards, a kill, an ace, two blocks, an assist and two digs; and Jaci Penrod, five digs.
   With that win the Lady Cats moved on in the bracket to face Williams, winning again in two games, 25-12 and 25-13. Perry had a kill, an ace and six digs; Griffith, a kill, an ace and two blocks; Fish, two kills, an ace, 14 assists and three digs; Dixon, two kills and a dig; Fields, three kills and a block; Mosier, six kills, an ace, two blocks and six digs; Wouters, three kills, four aces, two blocks and six digs; Pugh, a block and a dig; and Penrod, 15 digs.
   That win placed the Lady Wildcats into the championship match where they met up with St. Johns. Joseph City won the first game 25-17, but fell behind in the second. In fact, the host squad was in danger of losing its first game of the tournament. The Lady Cats trailed 22-17 when freshman Lexi Ed-wards rattled off eight straight serves to win the game and the title, 25-22.
   In the championship match Perry had a kill, an assist and a dig; Griffith, a kill and a dig; Fish, three kills, three aces, 17 assists and nine digs; Fields, a kill, six blocks and an assist; Mosier, five kills, an ace, a block and four digs; Wouters, eight kills, an ace, and two blocks; and Allysa Dixon, an ace, a block and a dig.
   Williams defeated Valley for third place, and Rock Point downed Piñon for the consolation prize.
   Linsey Wouters, Tori Mosier and Shelby Fish were named to the All Tournament Team.
   “Natalie Griffith had a first for Joseph City,” said Coach Darrel Mosier. “Never had a ball been kicked by a player to save the ball from hitting the ground. Natalie had collapsed to the floor to help dig the ball off a block, and to prevent the ball from landing on the ground, she kicked it up to an alert Jaci Penrod, who sent the ball over the net. The Wildcats won this rally and Natalie is now in the record books.
   “The team played very well, stayed poised, and all players were able to see playing time,” noted the coach. “This has always been a good coming together tournament for us.”
   After defeating Ash Fork in a regular season match 25-8, 25-16 and 25-11 on Tuesday night, the Lady Wildcats currently stand at 23-9-1 on the season. Today (Oct. 2) they will play at Rock Point, then have a week off before hosting Fredonia on Friday, Oct. 9. In two weeks they travel to Heber to face Mogollon.