Exceptional Playoff Performances

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We are in the last week of the AZ volleyball season and wanted to highlight some exceptional performances so far this playoffs. These are going to be players who had an exceptional game and helped lead their team to victory. Although one player is never directly responsible for a win, we wanted to highlight some top tier performances from the first week of the playoffs.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='774402' first='Tessa' last='Larkin'] (OH: Xavier Prep): In her quarterfinals match up vs #8 Liberty, Tessa had an exceptional match. She finished with 16 kills on a 67% kill percentage and she hit .500 in the match. She was quite literally unstoppable for the Gators in this match up. She also chipped in 4 aces and 2 blocks to go with her offensive output that she put on.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='502333' first='Hayden' last='Conner'] (MB: Corona Del Sol): Another quality performance turned in by Hayden in her 1st round match up vs Higley. She finished the match with 14 kills on 22 swings and 0 errors to lead the team in hitting percentage, kills, and kill percentage. She was a force on the defense end as well, and got a number of block touches that made it impossible for Higley to get anything going on offense. She was a force on both sides of the floor and one of the reasons they made it to the semi-finals.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='807441' first='Sydney' last='Simon'] (Pin: Valley Christian): Sydney had a great first two rounds at the state playoffs. In her 1st round and quarterfinals match up (both were the same day) she led the Trojans in kills.&nbsp; She would finish the day hitting .339 with a 45% kill percentage and average 4.5 kills a set. She was a dominant pin for the Trojans and was a key component to the Trojans sweeping both opponents in the 3A playoffs.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='904074' first='Brooklynn' last='McNulty'] (Setter: Horizon): In the 1st round of the playoffs she was on her A game with her distribution as a setter. She would finish the match with 37 assists in 3 sets for a 12.3 average. Every other attempt was a kill which just shows how well she had the offense moving in the match. She also chipped in a 1 kill a set and hit .437 on offense as well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='904078' first='Haley' last='Rouse'] (Pin: Centennial): Haley has really saved her best for last to end this season. In Centennials epic 5 set thriller they had in their quarterfinals match, Haley set a season high for kills with 21. She also had just set her season high in kills in the 1st round with 16 against Willow Canyon. She is on a rampage these playoffs and will look to set another season high in kills in her semi-final match later this week.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='808942' first='Lily' last='Terpstra'] (Libero: Anthem Prep): Lily had a weekend to remember for the Eagles. She was all over the court in her 3 matches this weekend and helped lead Anthem Prep to the state finals. Over the course of her last 3 matches she totaled 77 digs on defense for a 5.5 average each set. She was instrumental in her quarterfinals match up against St. David as she had a season high 38 digs to help lead them to a dramatic 5 set victory.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='904075' first='Grace' last='Layton'] (OH: Trivium Prep): Grace had a fantastic first two rounds at the state playoffs. On Saturday she helped lead the Knights to the semi finals by having a career day. Over the course of the two matches she would average 4.7 kills a set on a 43% kill percentage. She was doing a good job beating the block and going through it to lead the Knights in kills on the day. She also chipped in 3 digs a set and 4 aces as well.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='807263' first='Sara' last='Bowcutt'] (OH: ALA QC): Sara had a great offensive performance against Saguaro in the quarterfinals. In 3 sets she had 22 kills, which was 7.3 kills a set. She did that hitting .341 and a kill percentage of 50%. On top of that once she started drawing the defense toward her, it really opened up the door for her teammates to get the single blocks they needed to be dominant as well.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='874847' first='Tatum' last='Naber'] (Setter: Northwest Christian): Tatum was one of the key members of Northwest Christians run to the semi-finals. Over the course of her Saturday she had 60 assists which was 2nd in the conference for the weekend. Her 10 assist a set was also second in the conference for the weekend. She was dialed in with her hitters and offense as the team hit over .325 for the weekend.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='808979' first='Mackenzie' last='Benso'] (Libero: NVCA): In their quarterfinals match up against San Tan they got all they could handle from the Roadrunners. The match ended up going 5 and the only reason they avoided the upset was the exceptional play of Mackenzie in the quarterfinals. Not only did she set a season high with 39 digs in the 5 set thriller, it was also a new career high for Mackenzie. She was all over the place and covering so much ground in this match. She got a number of touches on balls that no one had business getting too. One of the best performances a libero has put in this season.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='833602' first='Kallie' last='George']: (OH: Ironwood Ridge): Kallie turned in one of her best performances for the quarterfinals vs ALA GN. She would finish the match with 19 kills on a 56% kill percentage. She was also all over the stat sheet as she contributed aces, blocks, digs, and even assists. She was the only player on the team to achieve that feat in her match. An overall excellent performance in the playoffs.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='882697' first='Kate' last='Harrigan'] (Middle Blocker: Cicero): A starter on all 3 of Cicero state championship teams, Kate had a terrific playoffs for Cicero to help them capture that third state championship. In the first round match up against San Simon Kate had 13 kills on a .650 hitting percentage and 0 hitting errors. She also chipped in 2 aces during the match and was able to shut down the opposing hitters throughout the match with her blocking.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='874827' first='Molly' last='Whalen']: (Pin: Canyon View): In their first round match up vs Verado, Molly had a great all around game. She filled up the stat sheet with her offensive and defensive effort. On offense she had 22 kills for a 7.3 average but did it on a 64.7% kill percentage. She had her way with the Vipers all night and they had no answer for her. She also contributed in other ways by leading her team in digs in the match with 13. She had a double double for the Jaguars and was the leader in offense and defense for them in their match up.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pinnacle's defense: In their 1st round upset over Sunnyslope the Pinnacle defense put on an absolute clinic with their defense. We couldn't just pick one girl to highlight as this was a consistent team effort. The Pioneers ended the match with [player_tooltip player_id='891365' first='Jaelyn' last='Kangas'] having 7 blocks, [player_tooltip player_id='804721' first='Ava' last='Crawford'] with 6 blocks, and libero [player_tooltip player_id='877567' first='Anela' last='Wailani'] having 21 digs. In order to pull off the upset they really needed a team effort and they got it from multiple areas with their commitment on the defensive end. They ended the match with the most blocks out of any 6A match in the first round.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We had a great week of playoff volleyball! We look forward to a great end of season and crowning of our 2A-6A Champions this weekend. We hope to see everyone at Madhouse on McDowell for the last games of the season on Saturday!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->