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By N. Waddell
The Hayden Lobo volleyball team earned a trip to the Arizona State Volleyball Tournament to be played at the Toyota Center in Prescott Valley with a number eleven finish in the power point rankings. Their eleventh seed earned them a spot against the number six seeded Duncan High School Lady Wildkats in the first round of the tournament.
The team, unable to find the center was almost late and when they got there were in a confused state with all the rules they had to follow just to get into the center. After finally getting in, they had more rules and regulations thrown at them.
They finally got the opportunity to get on the court only to lose to the number six seed and exit the tournament after only one match. The Lobo team tried to cope with all the rules and regulations but they were no match for the Lady Wildkats losing in three sets with scores of 13 to 25, 15 to 25 and 17 to 25.
The Lady Lobos had five senior players playing their last match in the Lobo Blue and White. Congratulations to Alexis Felix, Danielle Paton, Marlisse Perez, Lainey Lopez and Melinda Marinez on leading the Lady Lobos to an outstanding season.
The younger Lady Lobos making the trip learned much in their trip to the play-offs and will be counted on to lead next year’s team The returning players are Kyana Garcia, Devin Estrada, Brittany Paton and Stephanie Encinas. Congratulations to all the team members on making the state tournament and posting a great record for the season.
With the loss came the end of the Lobos fall sports. The volleyball nets are down and all the football equipment is put away, it is now time to get ready for the basketball and wrestling season.
The Lobo basketball players, male and female, have been busy getting ready for the start of the season that will begin with the scrimmage scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 15 against the highly regarded Pima High School Roughriders and Lady Roughriders basketball teams.
The scrimmage is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start on the Lobo court with the Lady Lobos taking the court first followed by the Lobo boy’s team.
The first scheduled game of the season is set for Tuesday Nov. 20 when the Monsoons of Mesa Prep will be on the Lobo court for three games. The Lobo JV will take the court first at 4p.m. followed by the Lady Lobo team at 5:30 p.m. and the Lobo varsity taking the court at 7 p.m.
The Lobo team will have many familiar players back on the team led by starters from last year’s team Julian Gomez, Adrian Ochoa, Roman Padilla and Marcos Gonzales along with Rodney Ortiz and Matthew Martinez who came off the bench for extensive playing time.
The rest of the Lobo varsity will include four more senior players leaving only two spots open for the underclassmen to battle for. The coaches said it, the players that want it the most will get the playing time.
The Lady Lobo team was not as lucky getting the high number of players to come out with only nine ladies reporting for practice. The Lady Lobos will have some experienced players with Melinda Marinez, Kyana Garcia, Devin Estrada and Clarissa Chavez leading the way.
The wrestling program at Hayden High is attempting to return to the mats this season with the program at the junior high level having an excellent turnout of participants. The Lobo varsity wrestling team will not field a full team but will take to the mats with the athletes that are on the team. The schedule was not yet set for the wrestling season.
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