Yuma Catholic storms past San Luis

Despite a slow, sluggish start, the Yuma Catholic Shamrocks put away the San Luis Sidewinders in four sets, 21-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-15.

With the game tied at 5-5, San Luis (4-8 overall) took control of the game with a 10-2 run. The Shamrocks’ comeback fell short and they dropped the first set before taking the next three.

“We did pretty good. We started slow and our intensity was low but we played and it came back to us. When we would make mistakes, we would hold grudges and be hard on ourselves. We were good at not letting us stay down,” Shamrock outside hitter Kalaina Barnett said. “We found out our mistakes and fixed them. Our intensity got up and we focused on fundamentals.”

In the second set, Yuma Catholic (11-4) scored first and did not let go of the lead. With the score 8-6, the Shamrocks distanced themselves with a 16-6 run putting the game out of reach for the Sidewinders at 24-12.

“Our girls were very mentally tired. We played some tough teams all this week. Our trip to Phoenix took a lot out of us,” San Luis coach Melissa Hernandez said.

“We came out hard in the first set. We were smart and tough. But we just need to stay strong. We had a mental breakdown and lack of communication. We are working on our aggressiveness and confidence.”

In the third set, both teams fought hard and were evenly matched. With a 18-16 advantage, the Shamrocks ended the match on a 7-3 run, scoring the set’s final 3 points.

“We started off slow. We didn’t come out as hard as we could’ve. We had a hard match against Parker and the girls were a little down. But then our game flowed and the girls did what they need to do and we played very well,” Shamrocks coach Maris Grasis said.

“San Luis had some good serves. We didn’t set or pass but we obviously came back. We need to play up, have high energy from game one to the end. We can’t come out flat. We need to have more enthusiasm.”

Yuma Catholic put the match out of reach for the Sidewinders with a 14-6 run in the final match and ended the match scoring six of the final seven points.

Barnett had 14 kills, Chelsey Mendenhall contributed 32 assists, Madison Brazeel dove for 18 digs and Amanda Milnick led the Shamrocks with 18 kills.