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Volleyball drops last two matches

By Eric Townsend
Photo by Ed Adams

aztecpress@pima.edu

After pulling off back-to-back road wins, the Pima Community College volleyball team hoped to finish its season strong, but instead came up empty handed after a pair of tough losses.

Pima (8-23, 3-15 Arizona Community College Athletic Conference) did not qualify for the playoffs. The team had a 12-match losing streak to start the season and a seven-match losing streak in October, but the young team will be filled with veterans next year.

“This group lacks experience,” head coach Dan Bithell said. “In this conference, for us, it’s not about talent, it’s how we handle ourselves.”

Entering their match against Arizona Western College on Oct. 27, the Aztecs were coming off a two-game winning streak.

The visiting Matadors made quick work of the Aztecs, sweeping them in three straight matches. AWC won 25-21 in the first two sets, then cruised in the final set by a score of 25-14.

Heather Paddock

Freshman outside hitter Angie Banks led the Aztecs with 12 kills in the match. Freshman setter Czarina Schutt led the team with 27 assists.

“Overall, I was pleased with our match against Arizona Western,” Bithell said. “They’re just a good team that went on to win their region.”

The Aztecs went north to play Mesa Community College on Oct. 30, in what would be the final match of the season. Coming into the match, Mesa was last in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference.

Pima opened play by winning the first two sets 25-17 and 25-16. Needing to win just one more set, the Aztecs failed to capitalize.

“Hope is a powerful thing,” Bithell said. “In this tough conference, if you give a team hope, they’ll run with it.”

Pima dropped the next two sets 27-29 and 24-26, then lost the final set 10-15.

“As the season progressed, we got better,” Bithell said. “I was really pleased the last couple weeks of the season.”

Sophomore Krista Kallish was named to the All-ACCAC Team with an honorable mention nod.

The outside hitter led the team in kills with just over three per game and was second amongst the Aztecs in digs per game with an average of just over two per game.

“It’s gonna be a long road,” Bithell said. “But I think we have some good pieces coming back next year.”

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ONLINE EXTRA: Young women’s basketball ranked in top 10

By Eric Townsend
Photo and Videos by James Kelley
aztecpress@pima.edu

As the regular season opener approaches, the Pima Community College women’s basketball team is hoping to build on recent successes, including back-to-back Region titles and consecutive appearances at Nationals.

Head coach Todd Holthaus enters his fourth season with the Aztecs, this time as a full-time coach. Selected as No. 10 in the preseason rankings, the Aztecs are expected to be good again.

“We want to carry on the tradition that we’ve started here,” Holthaus said.

Last spring, Holthaus was named Pima’s second full-time coach, after football head coach Patrick Nugent in 2009.

His players will have their work cut out for them this year after losing sophomore talents like Tia Morrison, Abyee Maracigan, LeAndra Lucas and Jessica Jones.

Morrison was the 15th player ever to be named first team All-American during both of her two years at Pima. Maracigan was a third team All-American for two years, and Jones was Most Valuable Player of the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 1 Tournament.

“We lost some players,” Holthaus said. “But, we’ll be all right. We just want to always play hard and get our freshmen to where they need to be.”

PCC return a solid core of players, and are bringing in talent via college transfers. They expect to contend for another region title.

“We’re a different team this year,” sophomore guard Sara Nicholson said. “We are a lot bigger and a lot faster.”

The Aztecs will still have to play good basketball in a very competitive conference in order to advance. No. 2 Central Arizona College, No. 8 Mesa Community College and No. 25 Arizona Western College are other Arizona Community College Athletic Conference teams ranked in the preseason polls.

“This is a very smart and hard working group,” Holthaus said. “They’re physically tough and they won’t back down.”

Gaby Ayon and Shaysea Alba

The season starts for PCC on Nov. 5, when they travel to Cedar City, Utah, to take on Salt Lake City Community College and the College of Eastern Utah in the Southern Utah University Invitational.

“That’s when the real test begins,” Holthaus said.

On Dec. 4 at 2 p.m., the Aztecs host Central, the ACCAC’s dominant team. On Feb. 9 at 5:30 p.m., Pima hosts rival Mesa.

Nicholson has expectations of her own. “We want to do something productive this year,” she said. “We want to get back to the tournament and do better.”

Pima has 10 freshmen on the roster and three sophomores who didn’t play for PCC last year.

“We’re still a work in progress,” Holthaus said. “I think we’re deeper than we’ve ever been. The team speed overall is much better and the potential to be good is there.”

Last year the Aztecs finished fifth at Nationals after Maracigan injured her knee at the Big Dance. Maracigan tore her ACL at the beginning of the tourney.

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ONLINE EXTRA: New faces all around for men’s basketball

By Ricky Gonzales
Photo by Ed Adams
Videos by James Kelley
aztecpress@pima.edu

The Pima Community College men’s basketball team starts from scratch, welcoming newly hired head coach Roderick Gary.

Fresh off their first-ever appearance at Nationals, everything seems new for the Aztecs. In addition to a new coach, the team has a slew of new players.

Daniel Conorque

Former head coach Karl Pieroway led Pima to seventh place at the National Junior College Association tournament last spring. After the tournament, Pieroway resigned, then agreed to come back, then resigned again.

Gary declined comment about Pieroway, but complimented the previous staff’s recruiting.

“The previous coaches did a nice job of finding kids that wanted to play,” he said.

The Aztecs roster currently has 21, including eight freshmen.

Central Arizona College transfer C.J. Crockom, a small forward and shooting guard, has also joined the team.

“I was recruited by Pima out of high school,” Crockom said. “I’m excited to play here this season.”

The Aztecs have lost lots of talent, headlined by former national player of the week Travares Peterson. The forward is a preseason all-conference selection for his new school, Eastern Oregon University.

Other key departures include guards Warren Baker and Coree Aten, who were both top Arizona Community College Athletic Conference three-point shooters, and point guards JaMier Morris and Jeremy Harden.

Peterson, Baker, Morris and Harden ran out of eligibility while Aten left for personal reasons.

Aten is a “a great guy, a shooter,” Gary said. “We could really light it up with him on the wing, which is our loss.”

Aztec recruiting was nearly non-existent because Gary was hired two months after Pieroway left in May. However, the coach has a recruiting plan.

“We want this program to be about Pima County,” Gary said. “We want it to be about Arizona athletes.”

Pima will wrap up the exhibition season Oct. 30 by hosting Westwind Preparatory Academy at 4 p.m. in the West Campus gym. Admission is free.

The Aztecs may also add a scrimmage against a team put together by Pieroway, but Gary said it might be “a distraction.” Follow Twitter.com/AztecSports for updates on Pima sports news and scores.

PCC will open the season in a tournament in New Mexico.

Pima’s first home game will be Nov. 20 against Scottsdale Community College.

Other key dates include Jan. 5, when the Aztecs host preseason No. 13 Cochise College.

On Jan. 29 at 4 p.m. they’ll host revenge-minded No. 6 Phoenix College, the team that Pima beat in Phoenix’s gym to advance to Nationals. On Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m., the Aztecs host No. 16 Arizona Western College.

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MEN’S SOCCER: PCC sweeps awards, wins opener

Story, Photo and Video by James Kelley
aztecpress@pima.edu

A few hours after winning big when conference awards were announced on Oct. 25, the Pima Community College men’s soccer team certainly showed they deserve the accolades.

The third-seeded Aztecs (16-5) routed sixth-seeded Scottsdale Community College 3-0 on Oct. 25 in the quarterfinals of the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 1 tournament.

Pima head coach Dave Cosgrove, who won Region 1 Coach of the Year, said the Aztecs settled down in the second half after struggling in the first. They also had to deal with substantial wind.

“For a while there it looked like we never were going to score, but once we got the first one, it came a little bit easier,” Cosgrove said. “I think it was, especially with the second half, a fair result.”

Freshman forward Donny Toia broke the deadlock in the 60th minute off an assist by Region 1 Player of the year and sophomore forward Minh Vu. Freshman defender Kolby Jacobson scored the second goal off a throw-in by sophomore defender Matt Kappas a few minutes later.

Freshman forward Yaya Kane scored the third goal on a SportsCenter type play where he dribbled right through the SCC defense. Freshman goalkeeper Miko Gastelum scored the shutout with five saves.

Kane said the goal that was scored by Toia served to “help us to open the game.”

The Aztecs now face a rough road to the championship though. They’ll face community college soccer super power No. 12 Yavapai College (15-4-1) on the road in the semifinals.

The game was Oct. 27, but the results were unavailable at press time. For playoff updates, go to AztecPressOnline.com and Twitter.com/AztecSports.

Second-seeded Yavapai has won seven national championships and boasts an almost perfect record at home in the postseason.

“It’s a great environment, they got a great home field advantage and a very good team,” Cosgrove said. “In 20 years they have lost one time in the playoffs up there, so it’s a monumental task, but I think if we play well and our kids take their chances and finish well, we can play with anybody in our conference and in the country.”

During the regular season, the Aztecs and Roughriders split, with Pima winning 1-0 in Tucson on Sept. 6 and Yavapai winning 4-2 in Prescott on Oct. 18. Pima’s last five seasons have ended with losses at Yavapai in the playoffs.

“I feel very confident, because we beat them at home and we lost to them over there, but I think we dominated over there,” Vu said. “I feel confident about playing them again.”

Vu was also named first team All-ACCAC and All-Region 1 first team, joined by Kane on both of the squads. Toia and freshman defender Eric Glad were named second team All-ACCAC.

Minh Vu

Vu also won the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference scoring title with 39 points, 15 goals and nine assists. Vu, a second team All-American last year, said winning player of the year was “exciting.”

“I think it’s the body of work, not only this year but over the last two years he’s been just dynamic like for us,” Cosgrove said. “He scores big goals, he steps up in the biggest environments. So I think it is well deserved and to be honest I wasn’t surprised.”

The Aztecs closed out the regular season Oct. 23 with a 2-0 win at Phoenix College. Toia and freshman forward Donny Blake Brennen scored Pima’s goals. Freshman forward Alex Anderson got the assist on both goals.

Vu credits winning the Phoenix game with helping PCC beat Scottsdale two days later.

“As a team we felt very confident coming in,” Vu said. “We got the big win against Phoenix and we wanted to play at home, and we got the big win. We are taking it one game at a time.”

The game against Phoenix was Toia’s third in a row with a goal. Gastelum made two saves in earning the shutout.

Pima snapped its brief two-game losing streak on Oct. 20 in dominant fashion with a 6-2 win at Glendale Community College. Toia led the way for the Aztecs with two goals and an assist.

The Aztecs’ loss to Yavapai came on Oct. 18 by a margin of 4-2. Toia scored a goal, giving him a point in six straight games. Kane had the assist. Freshman defender Bryce Parker scored Pima’s other goal.

On Oct. 16, the last time Pima played Scottsdale, they lost 2-1 at West Campus. Kane scored the Aztec goal off an assist by Anderson. Kane’s goal was his eighth in the last five games.

“I think we took our chances in the second half,” Cosgrove said Oct. 25. “The last time we played them, we had the same amount of quality chances and we didn’t make them.

“This is the time of year if you do that then you are going to lose, but today we got that first one. Then once we got the second one, it got very comfortable for us and obviously the third one just put the icing on the cake.”

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ONLINE EXTRA: PLAYOFF UPDATE: Men’s soccer wins playoff opener, sweeps awards

Story, Photo and Video by James Kelley

The Pima Community College men’s soccer team wasting no time in showing they deserved the long list of accolades they received on Monday.

The third-seeded Aztecs (16-5) routed sixth-seeded Scottsdale Community College 3-0 on Sept. 25 in the quarterfinals of the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 1 tournament.

Pima head coach Dave Cosgrove, who won Region 1 Coach of the Year, said the Aztecs settled down in the second half after struggling in the first. They also had to deal with substantial wind.

“For a while there it looked like we never were going to score, but once we got the first one, it came a little bit easier,” Cosgrove said. “I think it was, especially with the second half, a fair result.”

Freshman forward Donny Toia broke the deadlock in the 60th minute off an assist by Region 1 Player of the year and sophomore forward Minh Vu. Freshman defender Kolby Jacobson scored the second goal off a throw-in by sophomore defender Matt Kappas.

Freshman forward Yaya Kane scored the third goal on a SportsCenter type play where he dribbled right through the SCC defense. Freshman goalkeeper Miko Gastelum scored the shutout with five saves.

Kane said the goal by Toia served to “help us to open the game.”

The Aztecs now face a rough road to the championship though. They’ll face community college soccer super power No. 12 Yavapai College (15-4-1) on the road in the semifinals.

Second-seeded Yavapai has won seven national championships and boasts an almost perfect record at home in the postseason.

“It’s a great environment, they got a great home field advantage and a very good team,” Cosgrove said. “In 20 years they have lost one time in the playoffs up there, so it’s a monumental task, but I think if we play well and our kids take their chances and finish well, we can play with anybody in our conference and in the country.”

During the regular season, the Aztecs and Roughriders split, with Pima winning 1-0 in Tucson on Sept. 6 and Yavapai winning 4-2 in Prescott on Oct. 18. Pima’s last five seasons have ended with losses at Yavapai in the playoffs.

“I feel very confident, because we beat them at home and we lost to them over there, but I think we dominated over there,” Vu said. “I feel confident about playing them again.”

Vu was named first team All-ACCAC and All-Region 1 first team, joined by Kane on both all-star squads. Toia and freshman defender Eric Glad were named to the second team of the All-ACCAC.

Donny Toia

Vu also won the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference scoring title with 39 points, 15 goals and nine assists. Vu, an All-American last year, said winning player of the year was “exciting.”

“I think it’s the body of work, not only this year but over the last two years he’s been just dynamic like for us,” Cosgrove said. “He scores big goals, he steps up in the biggest environments. So I think it is well deserved and to be honest I wasn’t surprised.”

The Aztecs closed out the regular season Oct. 23 with a 2-0 win at Phoenix College.

“As a team we felt very confident coming in,” Vu said. “We got the big win against Phoenix and we wanted to play at home, and we got the big win. We are taking it one game at a time.”

The win avenged an earlier 2-1 home loss to on Oct. 16 Scottsdale, they lost 2-1 at West Campus.

“I think we took our chances in the second half,” Cosgrove said Oct. 25. “The last time we played them, we had the same amount of quality chances and we didn’t make them.

“This is the time of year if you do that then you are going to lose, but today we got that first one. Then once we got the second one, it got very comfortable for us and obviously the third one just put the icing on the cake.”

Regionals:
Semifinals: Wednesday, Oct. 27
Championship: Saturday, Oct. 30 at higher seed

ONLINE EXTRA: Football shows promise despite losses

By Narciso Thomas Villarreal
Photo by Ed Adams
Scottsdale Videos by James Kelley

The Pima Community College football team has lost three games in a row, but that includes a close call to an undefeated team and a deceiving score against the preseason No. 1 ranked team.

The Aztecs (2-4, 0-3 Western States Football League) lost their third consecutive game after being beat 32-13 by the No. 8 Arizona Western College Matadors on Oct. 9 at home. Pima was close early on, but Western pulled away in the second half.

“That’s a great football team we just played, and I thought our kids gave every ounce of effort they could,” head coach Patrick Nugent said after the game. “We just fell a little bit short tonight.”

The Aztecs struck first after sophomore defensive back Michael Holloway intercepted the ball and took it 11 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.

The first half ended with Pima trailing 18-7.

Pima would only muster six more points after sophomore running back Auburá Taylor had a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter.

“It was good to finally get back there,” Taylor said. “I ain’t been starting back there all year. Our starter went down. I felt like it would be a big chance to step up there and definitely make a big play and keep the team in it.”

Taylor had 107 total punt return yards in four attempts. He also had four kickoff returns totaling 101 yards.

“I think we can definitely make some big plays,” Taylor said about the team’s overall performance on special teams. “As long as they keep kicking it to me, I’m going to do the best I can.”

Pima’s special teams also prevented AWC from scoring a two-point conversion and blocked two point-after-touchdown attempts.

The Aztecs’ true freshmen pair of quarterbacks threw for 80 passing yards in total, with Zander McKean taking most of the snaps.

McKean went 7-20 for 75 yards. He was picked off once and sacked twice.

Zach Schira completed one pass in six attempts worth five total passing yards. The Matadors intercepted two of his passes and sacked him five times on the other hand.

“We definitely had a chance in that ball game,” Schira said. “They were a hell of a football team. They’re big, they’re strong and they’re fast. We were real close. We got a few breaks here and there. We minimize a couple mistakes, and we’re right in that ball game.”

Ricky Solomon

Pima rushed for 65 total yards with freshman receiver Ty Minkin leading the team with 34 yards in three carries. Sophomore running back Andy Garcia finished second with 28 yards in six carries.

“We moved the ball,” Nugent said. “We just had some mess-ups down in their zones. We just couldn’t put it in the end zone.”

Nugent said he thought the team got some decent yardage, but they just couldn’t score.

Pima had 80 total receiving yards with sophomore receiver Scott Campbell making four catches worth 41 yards.

As of Oct. 11, Western is ranked third in the National Junior College Athletic Association in total team defense.

The Matadors had 366 total yards of offense in the game. AWC is also ranked seventh in the NJCAA in total team offense.

Pima had two interceptions in the game, including one by sophomore defensive back Ricky Solomon, who leads the team this season with four.

On Oct. 2, the Pima football team overcame an early 14-0 deficit to Scottsdale Community College but couldn’t hold on to their brief lead on a rainy night.

The Aztecs fell to the then undefeated Fighting Artichokes 26-20 at home. Scottsdale quickly jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter but PCC soon answered back.

“Another tough loss two weeks in a row,” Nugent said after the SCC game. “We gave up points early.”

Pima freshman running back Damion Bracy scored a 33-yard rushing touchdown to get Pima on the board in the second quarter. The Fighting Artichokes struck back instantly though.

Scottsdale blocked the extra point attempt and returned the ball 90-plus yards for two points to give the Fighting Artichokes a 16-6 lead.

The last time Pima played SCC at home, in 2009, the Aztecs missed three extra points and the Fighting Artichokes won on a last second field goal 35-32.

SCC was driving down the field in the last minute of the first until sophomore linebacker Justin Kitchen got an interception.

“I just read it and cut across in front of him and picked it off,” Kitchen said. “I tried to return it like Reggie Bush.”

In the third quarter, McKean threw an 86-yard touchdown pass to Campbell. This time the extra point was good, and the third quarter ended with Scottsdale leading 16-13.

“We battled back. It was a great comeback for our guys to get out,” Nugent said.

In the fourth quarter, Pima took its first lead after Schira threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Minkin. The score was 20-16 after the extra point.

Zach Schira

Scottdale came back by scoring a touchdown and a field goal that put them up 26-20.

“We gave up a bad touchdown in the fourth quarter,” Nugent said. “We just can’t figure out a way to find a win. We just got to keep battling.”

In the game, Pima had 277 total offensive yards, with 159 passing yards and 118 rushing yards.

McKean and Schira again split time behind the center. McKean went 3-10 for 94 passing yards while Schira went 4-10 for 63 passing yards.

Schira lead the Pima rushing game with 62 yards in eight carries. Bracy finished the game with 37 rushing yards in three carries.

Campbell led Pima in receiving with 99 yards in four catches.

On the defensive end, Pima allowed 415 yards.

Pima’s Solomon had two interceptions and six solo tackles. Kitchen also had four solo tackles.

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ONLINE EXTRA: Volleyball clings to diminishing playoff hopes

Editor’s note: on Oct. 13, the Aztecs lost 3-1 to No. 17 Glendale

By Ricky Gonzales
Photo and Video by James Kelley

The Pima Community College volleyball team suffered its fourth straight loss on Oct. 8 to Yavapai College in conference play.

The Roughriders took the match in three games, 19-25, 14-25 and 15-25.

“We weren’t focused on any of our first contacts,” coach Dan Bithell said. “We’re going to have to do a much better job if we want to make the playoffs.”

PCC is in the back of the conference, desperately needing wins

“We’re in sixth place out of seven teams,” Bithell said. “We need to finish at least fourth to make it into the playoffs.”

Pima is two matches behind Phoenix College and South Mountain Community College, which are tied for fourth.

Freshman outside hitter Angie Banks led the PCC attack Oct. 8 with nine kills. Freshman setter Czarina Schutt had 28 assists.

Phoenix College beat PCC in five on Oct. 6.

Angie Banks

Sophomore outside hitter Krista Kallish led the way on offense with 13 total kills. She was named conference player of the week for her performance.

“I’m excited about it,” Kallish said. “But I feel like I’m still not playing to my potential.”

Schutt had 27 assists. Freshman middle Shannon McCullough made three total blocks.

The Aztecs also dropped another five-game match to Southwestern College on Oct. 4, 15-25, 25-21, 17-25, 26-24 and 10-15.

Freshman setter Sandy Casillas finished with 30 assists. Kallish had a team-high 13 kills.

Three nights before, the Aztecs could not fight off Scottsdale Community College, losing the match in four games, 20-25, 25-20, 24-26 and 19-25.

Defensively, three players came up with 15 or more digs. Hamilton showed strength at the net with three blocks.

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