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OUAZ Athletics

MVB_02/05/2025
Richard Martinez
MVB_03/20/25
0
OUAZ OUAZ 6-7, 2-3
3
Winner Benedictine Mesa (AZ BENEDICT 13-3, 4-1
OUAZ OUAZ
6-7, 2-3
0
Final
3
Benedictine Mesa (AZ BENEDICT
13-3, 4-1
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
OUAZ OUAZ 21 23 22 (0)
Benedictine Mesa (AZ BENEDICT 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Men's Volleyball | | Jas Singh

OUAZ Falls Short In Tight Matchup With #6 Benedictine Mesa

Surprise, Ariz.- OUAZ fell short in a tightly contested matchup with longtime rival and #6 ranked Benedictine Mesa on Thursday evening in Mesa. The final score (21-25) (23-25) (22-25) putting the team's record at (6-7) overall with a (2-3) record in conference.

Sophomore phenom Horatio Maumasi, led the way with 7 kills on 9 attempts for a team high .667 hitting percentage. Maumasi, faced one of the top middle tandems in the country, but was able to convert almost every time he got set. The 6 '4 middle also had a high level stuff block defensively. Anthem native, Caeden Salmen added a team high 9 kills and kept up his tough serving, getting an extremely good Redhawk team out of system consistently. Junior Ka'imi Kealoha came in set 3 and did a solid job in serve-recieve diming a quite a bit of Redhawk serves while also banging a swing down the line that completely had the entire team hyped and swayed the momentum toward the Spirit. Setter Jonathan Worden not only provided 29 assists, but notched several dump kills and kills from the opposite scoring on 5 out of his 7 attempts. The senior setter who made the switch from libero last year, continues to thrive in his new role against top level competition. Canyon View HS grad, Xavier Connelly had some late game heroics after coming in late in set 3 and providing some instant offense with 2 crossbody kills that completely left the Ben U defense puzzled.

The Spirit put up quite a fight against a team that is amongst the best in the country in several statistical categories. The team battled in the first set and almost came back after the Redhawks had ballooned their lead all the way up to 7 at 13-20. Following a couple errors and a wall created by Salmen and Maumasi, the Spirit closed the lead to just 3 at 19-22. However, the Redhawks closed out the set with some clutch late set hitting. Set 2, was an absolute dog fight as both teams did not have a lead over two until late in the set. At the end of the set, OUAZ saw themselves down 3 with a Ben U gamepoint at 21-24 after a Dapre Rodgers bounce. However, after back to back kills from highflyer opposite Corey Johnson, OUAZ was down only 1 at 23-24. Unfortunately, the Redhawk attack was not done and Rodgers found a hole in the block to convert on set point. Set 3, carried the exact same story as set 2 where the Spirit were right there with the Redhawks. After a Xavier Connelly kill, the Spirit saw themselves up two late in the set at 18-16. Benedictine, however, did not go away again, scoring three straight and taking the lead. Then again, went on a 3-0 run pushing the lead to 19-22 after some back to back kills by their senior middle Trevor Weinert. The Spirit answered back, but so did the Redhawks notching three kills to end the set and two coming from their middles. The Spirit competed in every single set and were simply a couple errors or missed serves away from upsetting an experienced Benedictine squad.

OUAZ is not done yet, and have plenty of season left to go as they face all conference foes for a second time. The Spirit start their 3 game homestand with their last non-conference match of the year against longtime powerhouse Jamestown on Wednesday, March 26th at 6pm in Faith Arena. Then after will take on #1 ranked Masters University whom they took a set from last time they saw each other, on Friday, March 28th at 6pm at Faith Arena.
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