Morgan Fritz saved her best for last.

The Big Park Community School eighth-grader, a summer transfer from Cedar Falls, Iowa, turned the tide as she did in Clarkdale-Jerome School’s first loss Oct. 8 to help beat the Mingus Rams again Saturday, Oct. 24, and win the Verde Valley League tournament.

“This is my first championship game I’ve been in,” Fritz said. “Amazing. It’s very exciting.”

Fritz had four kills in the 2-1 win over Clarkdale, slamming it home at match point to win the tiebreaker, 15-11, and earn the Most Valuable Hitter award in the two-day tournament.

“I just love hitter,” she said. “It’s really fun and an honor to be able to play with these girls.

“I just love all of this team. I want to stick around forever.”

But although her co-coach, Erin Fagan, agreed that it was a great way to go out, Fritz’s middle school volleyball career is now over, as Big Park will not be participating Saturday, Oct. 31, in the Small Schools State Volleyball Tournament.

“It was really short,” Fritz said. “It felt like it had gone by so fast.”

That was the message co-coach Mollie Brackin had for the Coyotes in the huddle after they lost their second game not just to the Mingus Rams, 25-16, but also in their first match Friday, Oct. 23, against Pine Strawberry Elementary.

“‘Slow down,’” she laughed. “It’s easy to get rattled on simple mistakes.”

Especially when bodies of bees, both dead and alive, are dropping constantly from the ceiling and falling in front of the net, as they were doing Oct. 24. A bee swarm closed the front entrance to the Mingus Rams’ gymnasium, steadily infiltrating it.

For the full story, more photos and all-tournament selections, please see the Wednesday, Oct. 28, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.