Canyon del Oro beat Mingus Union 3-0 at home Tuesday night in the 4A Conference Play-In Tournament to advance to the 4A state tournament slated to start on Thursday, Nov. 2. The Dorados will travel to a higher seed with the top eight in the conference hosting the first round of the playoffs and then the higher seeds will host the quarterfinals and the semifinals. The state championship match is set for the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Friday, Nov. 10 along with the 2A, 3A, 5A and 6A Conferences in a day-long affair starting at 11 a.m. and ending around 9 p.m. if everything goes as planned.

In the match, Canyon del Oro struggled to keep leads and a 19-15 lead in the first set was quickly erased to 20-20 and then a 22-20 lead was also unsafe with Mingus pulling things even at 22-22. An assist from Alexandra Jacome to Maya Rivera put the Dorados up 23-22 and an ace from Kenzie Wetegrove ended the set at 25-22 two points later. The first set was highlighted by three straight aces from Rivera to start a 7-2 run for the Dorados.

The Dorados led 19-14 in the second set and it looked like Mingus would go on another run after cutting the lead down to 20-17 on a service error and a kill from Makela Martinez but a kill from Wetegrove and a block from Kendall Snyder paced the team to a 25-19 win to go up 2-0.

Jacome hit Peyton Rogowski to put Canyon del Oro up 16-11 in the third set but a couple of violations, coupled with an ace from Sabrina Zunitch and a block from Alice Kinsey, put Mingus Union up 17-16. The Dorados responded with a 4-0 run on a couple of kills from Wetegrove to take a 20-17 lead but Mingus Union cut the lead down to 22-21. The Dorados closed out the set on two kills from Macy Whatton and another from Snyder for the 25-21 win.

Jacome had 28 assists for the Dorados (20-8) with Rogoski putting up eight kills and Snyder adding seven more. Martinez had 12 kills for Mingus Union (16-10).

Mingus Union. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)