Thou Shalt Not Steal!
Tritons had the home advantage this weekend as they hosted the second tournament of the year for the Southwest Division on February 21st-22nd at Canyonview Aquatic Center. Going undefeated into the tournament, the Tritons were ready to keep their first place standing in league. After a long weekend, the Tritons won 3 of their 4 games during the tournament making them (7-1) in their season so far.
On Saturday, the Tritons faced for the first time this season San Diego State’s “B” team with a slow start to the game but began to pick up the tempo winning 12-7 against the Aztecs. Later on at night the Tritons faced Arizona State University, whom they had previously beaten (9-6) at the Aztec Invitational in mid-November. Tritons set the tempo coming out ready to win while the Sun Devils gave a hard fight right back. With 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter and down by 2 goals the Tritons came back with 2 exciting goals from Christy Armstrong (Senior / Guard) and Cathleen Nguyen (Junior / 2M) to tie the game going into overtime. With help from the crowd, especially the Presidents of Men’s Club Volleyball Chris and Jordan, the Tritons were able to get pumped for overtime. With a score of 10-10 after the overtime, the Tritons and Sun Devils went into a battle of sudden death. The Sun Devils could not defeat the power of the Tritons, as Cathleen Nguyen buried the final goal in the back of net winning (11-10) against Arizona State.
Sunday morning had a slow start as the Tritons faced University of Arizona, a new addition to the conference, for the first time this season. After a two quarters the Tritons were able to execute their offensive strategies winning (16-8) against the Wildcats. The most anticipated game of the weekend occurred late Sunday afternoon as the Tritons had their final game against San Diego State “A”. The Tritons came out strong for the first half putting up a fight against the quick offense from the Aztecs. The Aztecs took a lead during the fourth quarter, defeating the Tritons (8-12).
After a long weekend the Tritons lead scorers were Hannah Caskey (Sophomore / Driver) with 10 goals, Cathleen Nguyen with 7 goals, and Macey Rafter (Junior / 2M) and Nicki Prohaska (Senior / 2M) each with 6 goals.
The Tritons will be preparing to travel to University of Arizona March 5th-6th to take on the Anteaters, Aztecs, and Wildcats in their third tournament before Championships on April 9th-10th.