Salpointe Catholic wins first-ever state championship in girls volleyball
Arizona Daily Star
Salpointe Catholic's girls volleyball team won its first state championship on Wednesday night.
The sixth seeded Lancers (33-8) beat No. 4 Phoenix Greenway 3-1 (25-23, 20-25, 25-21, 25-16) at Phoenix Mountain Pointe to win the Class 4A state championship. The volleyball championship is the first in school history.
Salpointe’s previous highest finish was as 4A runner-up in 1970. The last Tucson team to win a girls volleyball state championship was Rincon/University in 1993.
The Lancers notched three straight upsets in the state tournament away from home to win the tournament. In the quarterfinals, Salpointe won 3-1 at No. 3 Flagstaff then in the semifinals they beat No. 2 Prescott 3-0 at Mountain Pointe.
Senior outside hitter Maggie Schepelmann had 20 kills, junior outside hitter Alanna Duarte 17 kills and sophomore outside hitter/middle blocker Alex Parkhurst 10 kills.
This is Southern Arizona’s fourth team state championship of the 2016-17 school year after Catalina Foothills boys golf won the Division II golf title, Salpointe took home the Division III girls cross country championship and Sabino girls swimming won the Division III state title.
4A state championship
SALPOINTE CATHOLIC 3, PHOENIX GREENWAY 1
(25-23, 20-25, 25-21, 25-16)
SAL – Aces: Duarte 1, Sundholm 1, Cracchiolo 1, Lewis 2, Team total 5. Kills: Russell 8, Duarte 17, Parkhurst 10, Sundholm 9, Schepelmann 20, Team total 64. Blocks: Russell 3, Duarte 1, Parkhurst 2, Sundholm 2, Lewis 1, Team total 7. Digs: Russell 5, Duarte 27, Parkhurst 3, Sundholm 13, Schepelmann 13, Cracchiolo 20, Lewis 27, Team total 108.