Rams charge past YC

Antelope has been on a roll all season, while Yuma Catholic has had its struggles.

The Rams didn't take anything for granted against its 2A West Region rival.

Antelope completed the season sweep of the Shamrocks with a 25-19, 25-27, 25-12 and 25-15 victory Thursday at Yuma Catholic.

"They've improved a lot," Antelope coach Anna Delgado said of YC. "We beat ourselves in that second game. We started playing better in the third and fourth games, settled down, made a lot less mistakes and came out with a win."

Already trailing by a game, YC (0-11 overall, 0-7 2A West Region) opened up a 15-11 edge on the Rams in Game 2 after a Maria Macias kill and Taylor Mixon service ace.

The Rams (9-2 overall, 4-2 2A West Region) caught YC at 17 on a crosscourt kill by Blanca Gallego. There would be eight ties and four lead changes the rest of the game before YC closed it out in extra points on a Kelsey Wyman block and an Antelope attack error.

But the Rams controlled the next two games from start to finish.

Antelope closed out Game 3 with an 18-5 spurt.

The only time the Rams trailed in the fourth game was at 5-4. A Mieke Canan tip put Antelope on top 17-9. The Shamrocks went on a mini 5-1 run, and a Lilly McCurley kill cut Antelope's lead to four points, but that was as close as YC would come.

Antelope's Kellie Millner and Rocio Lopez had consecutive kills, and Lynnsey Herndon's serve clipped the net and fell untouched for an ace to stretch out the Rams' lead.

"They have a lot more heart than they did a month ago," YC coach Maris Grasis said of his team. "They're really starting to believe in what they can do. They just need to do it on a point-to-point basis.

"Antelope has a lot of talented girls who know what they're doing. I'll give it to their coach, they're really well-prepared."

Canan led Antelope with seven kills, while Lopez chipped in four. Millner and Andie Guerrero each had a pair of service aces.

Taylor Mixon paced YC with five kills and four service aces.