AZ Central All-State 4A

The Az Central Class 4A all-state first team:

• Maddie Bushman
• Jacquie Cason
• Alex Green
• Haley Lawless
• Madison Kingdon
• Katie Rutherford

Az Star's Volleyball List

Once again, the crack staff of the Az Star (and a very select group of area coaches) is out with their All-Southern Arizona vball team lists. Last year, Stephanie Ziegler was done wrong by these geniuses. This year, it's Zanna Sarama (2nd team) and Zoe Calhoun (3rd team). Here is their list:

First Team
• Erin Bradley, Sr., Amphitheater
• Maddie Bushman, Jr., Sabino
• Jacquie Cason, Sr., Cienega
• Michaela Christiaansen, Jr., Ironwood Ridge
• Emily Graham, Sr., Catalina
• Alyssa Mort, Sr., Rincon/University

Playin' Zona 18

Thanks to Pat Mooney and Molly Stark for a great club season last year at Sprial. Played with many of the top players in Arizona and finally made it to JO's. Tried out at both Spiral and Zona this weekend. The grind to Chandler and back last year was tough on the whole family. Two hours each way, twice a week, and many Saturdays.

Tough decision, but committed yesterday afternoon to Zona. Levi Quesada and Rachel Balsiger will be the coaches, and that was a huge plus from the start. Should be fun, and just about everybody is looking to play at the next level.

Zona 18-1

• Zoe Calhoun (S)
• Zanna Sarama (OH)
• Erin Bradley (MB/OH)
• Iyonna Zortman (L/DS/OH)
• Michelle Snyder (OH)
• Emily Malisewski (RS/MB)
• Kyla Wang (MB)
• Desiree Scott (MB)
• Haleigh Householder (S/RS)
• Jacquie Cason (OH/RS)

High School Finale

This connection wasn't working real good last night. And so it goes. Got swept by Cactus Shadows.

Best high school vball season in Cienega history. Several "firsts." Beat Sabino...twice. Beat Amphi. Won the TUSD tournament. Made it to the second round of the state playoffs. Time for the Bubba Keg to move on to one more season of club ball.

National Letter of Intent Signing Day

The dynamic duo of Sun Park and Jacquie Cason on NLI signing day at Cienega High. Jacquie and Sun are two of five girls, all from Old Vail Middle School, who are heading for D1 college programs. Sun will play golf at Yale.

UPDATE: Here is a link to UTEP's press release from today.

4A-1 State Playoffs Round One

Cienega in four very tough sets over Apache Junction. Got to hand it to the Prospectors. They made great adjustments to meet our attack, and their digging and hustle was spectacular.

Thursday is Cactus Shadows day again. We lost to them two years ago in round one of the playoffs. We lost to them in five sets last season. Then we lost to them in their tournament...but we didn't have Zoe for that last one.

Tucson Citizen First Team All Star

From yesterday's Tucson Citizen online:
4A-1 First Team

• Maddie Bushman, Sabino
• Jacquie Cason, Cienega
• Michelle Snyder, Catalina Foothills
• Kayla Henry, Canyon del Oro
• Lindsay Honea, Marana
• Zoe Calhoun, Cienega

And Tiana Fox made the second team list!

This was a better list than last season's AZ Star list. Shouldn't take these things very seriously. There are no real selection standards, so it's really just a local popularity contest among people with a vested interest in making their kid or program shine.

In our state, Tucson kids rarely get any love from the Phoenix media. They have an end-of-the-season list they call "All-Arizona," but they've never included any Tucson kids on that list. CDO's Stephanie Ziegler got no love in Tucson or Phoenix last season. She's now playing at NMSU. Other states have more objective process for end-of-season honors. Wish Arizona did.

What's most important is your coach and teammates respect you, your opponents fear and game plan around you, and college coaches, who get paid to judge performance and talent, want you on their team.

Arizona 4A State Playoffs Start Tonight (and NLI Day Tomorrow)

Apache Junction is in our house tonight at 7 p.m.

Nice preview of the 4A championships from AZ Central's, Odeen Domingo: http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/OdeenDomingo/67149

The second round is Thursday and the championships are Monday night in Phoenix.

Tomorrow is NCAA National Letter of Intent signing day and Cienega is hosting a mini-event at school tomorrow morning. Go Miners!

Boom!

(image: Zona Gardens)

Sahauro vs.Cienega Write-Up in the AZ Star

Bobcats sweep key rival again
Long point runs help Cienega stay unbeaten in Kino

Calhoun and Cason, a pair that Mott calls the best setter-hitter combo
in the area, were clicking against Sahuaro.

As usual, Cason filled the stat sheet with kills — she had 17 — and Calhoun registered 25 assists.

Read the entire article at the AZ Star online