Crims avenge lone region loss

Yuma High coach Manny Garcia has repeatedly called Magaly Gallegos the Criminals' "bread and water" this season.

She did quite a bit of everything Tuesday to help Yuma keep pace with Cibola atop the 5A Gila Valley Region standings.

Gallegos put away nine kills, came up with nine solo blocks and served up five aces to help the Crims avenge their only region loss thus far with a 25-11, 20-25, 25-13 and 25-19 victory over Kofa at Kofa Gym.

"We need to go to her, because we can't let her get down," Garcia said of Gallegos. "When she gets down I tell the setter (Margie Smith) to bring her back up. So she knows to give her the ball once or twice to get her back in line, and it shows in her stats. She was solid all the way across."

With the match knotted at a game apiece, the Criminals used a 12-2 spurt in Game 3 to take control. A tip by Gallegos put Yuma up 16-6. She later served up three aces in a row in the game.

The Kings scored four of the first five points to open Game 4. But Yuma went on a 7-0 run, capped by a Gallegos block to take the lead for good.
The Crims took their biggest lead of Game 4 at 17-8 on a service ace by Danielle Pelroy. But Kofa came out of a timeout to fight its way back into the game.

Kofa's Bianca Carrera tied it at 18-all on a well-placed tip. But Yuma scored seven of the next eight points to close out the match.

"One thing that helped us a great deal was over the weekend we were at a tournament in Tucson and played against some very good 5A schools," Garcia said. "For us, it was much better going out there against them than staying home."

The Kings ran off the first five points of Game 2. The Crims caught them at 11, and took their first lead on another Gallegos blast. Yuma went on to take its largest lead at 14-11. The second game saw two more ties.

Kofa took the lead for good on a Yuma service error and a Megan McKenna kill.

Christine Barry added seven kills for the Criminals, while Jazmin Reed contributed six kills.

Carrera paced the Kings with seven kills. Maria Lopez added five kills, and Briana Garcia had five kills and three aces.