Jordan Kramer, right, and Andrew Christ of Cienega block Marana's Ryan Hunt during their first-round 4A/5A-II state tournament match.

dean knuth / arizona daily star

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After losing the first game of Tuesday's first-round match, Cienega found a way to move past visiting Marana: Let Kimo Rand set Andrew Christ.

Christ had 22 kills in Cienega's 22-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-19 win over the No. 13-seeded Tigers on the opening night of the Class 4A/5A-II state tournament.

"I got set a lot because our hitters, nobody wanted to hit tonight," Christ said. "Nobody would swing, so he just kept setting me."

It worked. Tied at 5 in the second game, a Christ kill helped give the Bobcats the permanent lead. The third game also was tied at 5 before a Marana passing error gave Cienega an advantage that Christ capitalized on.

Marana took a 5-4 lead in the fourth game, then committed errors that gave Cienega an 8-5 lead. The lead was as large as 23-13 before four Cienega errors put the game at 24-19. The final point came on a Marana passing error.

"Marana has been to state the last three or four years, but we have never gotten past the first round," said Seth Wilson, who led Marana with 10 kills. "But I guess getting here, it's better than nothing."

— Jamie M. Blanchard

● Catalina 3, Ironwood Ridge 1: At Catalina, the Trojans came nervously close to being pushed to a fifth game after winning the first two but rallied to win 25-16, 25-15, 14-25, 26-24.

Catalina was down 24-22 in the fourth game with the Nighthawks one point away from forcing a fifth game.

"I think we felt kind of confident and that we wouldn't have to do anything in Game 3, and we would just stand out there and win," Catalina coach Heather Moore-Martin said. "Instead, we had to play volleyball, and Ironwood Ridge did a good job of making adjustments."

Led by Kevin Rountree, who had 13 kills and five blocks, the Trojans scored the final four points for the victory.

— Ari Wasserman

● Rincon/University 3, Santa Rita 0: At Rincon, the Rangers used a clutch performance from junior Brice Nzeukou to edge Santa Rita 25-22, 27-25, 26-24.

Santa Rita took an early 10-7 lead in the first game behind hitter Byron Morgan. But Rincon rallied to win 10 of the next 13 points and never looked back.

Rincon's momentum carried over. Nzeukou unleashed a blistering kill to put the Rangers up 19-9. But the Eagles soon forced a tie at 23, and Rincon coach Juanita Kingston looked at her players in disbelief.

"When you go up 19-9, you finish the game … and we didn't," Kingston said.

Nzeukou had 13 kills.

"That's what I like about this team," he said. "We show up for the big games and the big moments."