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Phantoms accomplished<br>significant feat in '01<br>

The Grand Canyon High School volleyball team performed a rare feat this season — qualifying for the Class 1A state tournament.

It's something that doesn't happen too often for Phantom athletes. In fact, it's the first sports team from the school to reach the postseason since the volleyball team under coach Ray Halverson made state in 1997.

On both occasions, Grand Canyon ended up losing in the first round. In 1997, the Lady Phantoms lost to the eventual state champions, Valley Lutheran, 15-9, 15-13. That was the team featuring Jackie Edlund and the Seymour twins, Elizabeth and Jacqueline.

This year's state qualifiers also included twins with Kara and Cally Foo. And they were an important part of the ballclub with setting, hitting and serving. Adrianne Keebahe, Michele Mickelson, Tiffany Monroe, Samantha Stickler, Nikki Harvey and Illanda Bitsui all did their part on the varsity squad.

The majority of those players are underclassmen and hopefully they will continue to play the sport next season.

The team lost to Tohono O'odham, 15-5, 15-2, a school that went on to upset a No. 1 seed in Salome in the quarterfinals. Joseph City, the regular-season champion and region tournament runner-up to St. Michael, ended up winning its third straight state title.

Despite the loss, I hope the girls realize they've accomplished a memorable feat. Not too many people gave them much of a chance to get by both Fredonia and Ash Fork in the region tournament a few weeks ago. But they responded to the situation and came out on top.

Sure, we had one more team from the conference in the playoffs. That should not diminish their accomplishment.

Grand Canyon's 2001 volleyball team will be remembered. For me, they represent the first Phantom team that qualified for state since I began covering sports up here.

Hopefully, this will be the beginning of an upward trend for our sports teams. I think there's a chance that the basketball teams could make some noise this winter.

(Brad Fuqua is editor of the Grand Canyon News).


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