More Than Championships: Something Special Is Happening at Arizona Western

One loss in 52 contests. Three ACCAC championships. Three nationally ranked programs. Arizona Western's remarkable fall is becoming about much more than the numbers.

Article Courtesy of Scott Gross, Arizona Western Athletics

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) - At some point, numbers stop looking like statistics and start looking almost unbelievable. 22-0, 11-0-2, and 13-1-3.

Combined, Arizona Western College volleyball, women's soccer and men's soccer are 46-1-5 through 52 contests this fall. Forty-six wins. Five ties. One loss.

Yet even that doesn't quite capture what's happening at Arizona Western College.

All three programs are ACCAC regular-season champions. All three secured No. 1 seeds over the weekend and home advantage throughout the Region I playoffs. Men's soccer clinched its championship and top seed with a 1-1 draw against Eastern Arizona College.

Then came the coincidence that made an already extraordinary fall even stranger.

All three clinched against the same opponent during the same weekend: Eastern Arizona College.

Volleyball did it on the road in Thatcher. Men's and women's soccer did it at home in Yuma. Based on the championship seasons examined, another season has not been identified in Arizona Western College history in which all three programs secured ACCAC regular-season championships against the same opponent during the same weekend.

Nobody could have scheduled it that way. It just happened and in a season increasingly rewriting program history, maybe that makes perfect sense.

Three Championships, One Opponent

For unbeaten volleyball, the championship required responding to adversity. After dropping the opening set on Saturday at Eastern Arizona College, the Matadors answered by winning the next three to remain perfect at 22-0.

Head coach Lorayne Chandler understood what winning there meant.

"Eastern is always a tough place to play," Chandler said. "So winning the championship there makes it even more meaningful. Our team stayed composed and found ways to win both matches."

At this point, Arizona Western College isn't sneaking up on anyone.

The Matadors have climbed to No. 14 in the NJCAA Division I rankings, the program's highest ranking since 2016 and the highest under Lorayne Chandler. Chandler also recorded her 200th victory earlier this month.

Maria Maeda added another level of national recognition when she was named NJCAA Division I Volleyball Player of the Week.

Every opponent knows the record. They know the ranking. The bullseye gets a little bigger.

Chandler's response has been to shrink the focus.

"We focus on one match at a time," Chandler said. "One set at a time or one point at a time, if needed. We want to keep playing good, consistent volleyball and let the results take care of themselves."

Twenty-two times, they have.

Yet when Chandler was asked where the Matadors still needed to improve, her answer came down to one word.

"Consistency," Chandler said. "We still have areas to clean up and we will be focusing on those skills this next week."

Even at 22-0, they're finding reasons to get better.

A Tie Worth Celebrating

Men's soccer arrived at its championship differently.

Kenny Dale's Matadors fell behind Eastern Arizona College before Tyrese Agbontaen equalized in the 59th minute. Goalkeeper Sebastian Belitrandi made critical saves in the final minutes, preserving a 1-1 draw and the point AWC needed to clinch the ACCAC championship and top Region I seed. Normally, a tie isn't followed by a championship celebration.

This one was.

For head coach Kenny Dale, there was something especially meaningful about doing it on Matador Field.

"They had a good strategy," Dale said. "We were fortunate to get the goal we did and win the conference at home. We've hardly won any of them at home. Almost all of them have been on the road. It was nice to get it, especially in sophomore day, the home finale in the regular season in front of a very nice crowd as well."

For a coach with hundreds of victories, getting to celebrate a conference championship in front of that home crowd, on Sophomore Day, still meant a lot after all this time.

No. 1 Gets Another Chance

Women's soccer's meeting with Eastern Arizona College carried another storyline entirely.

Earlier this fall, Arizona Western College climbed to No. 1 in the NJCAA Division I rankings for the first time in program history.

Its first opponent after reaching the top was then-No. 5 Eastern Arizona College. The result was a 0-0 tie.

AWC dropped to No. 2 in the ranking before re-emerging last week to reclaim the nation's top ranking.

Waiting again was Eastern Arizona College, now ranked No. 3. This time, the game was in Yuma and this time, No. 1 won.

Riko Horie put AWC ahead before Eastern quickly equalized. Kanon Ozaki provided the eventual game-winner just before the half in a 2-1 victory.

The Matadors had secured an ACCAC championship and Region I's top seed, but they had also accomplished something else.

For the first time in program history, Arizona Western College women's soccer had won a game while ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Head coach Victor Verdugo saw the matchup as a reflection of the strength of the ACCAC and his team's ability to respond.

"I think it speaks great of our conference," Verdugo said. "That we have the number one and number three teams in the country down here, our girls put a great effort, a lot of focus. For me, it was the biggest thing of who wants a more desire, more of a will. We had to hold on to the result and I thought the girls did a great job. Great group effort and proud of the group."

The No. 1 ranking isn't an isolated breakthrough.

Under Verdugo, the program has reached back-to-back NJCAA National Championship matches, finishing national runner-up in both 2024 and 2025. Both games ended in heartbreaking fashion with the 2024 final ending in overtime and the 2025 championship was decided on penalty kicks. This year the Lady Matadors look to take the final step and break through to claim the elusive national championship. 

The ranking represents another step for a program already accustomed to playing on the sport's biggest stage.

300, 200, 50 and the Programs Behind Them

The teams aren't the only ones reaching milestones.

Kenny Dale recorded his 300th victory as Arizona Western College men's soccer head coach this season. Lorayne Chandler reached win No. 200 with volleyball and Victor Verdugo reached win No. 50 with women's soccer this season.

Different coaches. Different stages of their careers. All reaching milestones during a season in which they guided ACCAC champions but those numbers aren't the work of three people alone.

That's an especially important distinction in junior college athletics, where roster turnover is constant. Players may have only one or two seasons to make an impact. A championship roster can look dramatically different a year later. Coaches and their assistants have to identify talent, recruit it to Yuma, develop it quickly and build enough depth to navigate the injuries that arrive during a season.

This fall has tested that depth.

Volleyball played without team captain Noemi Marinho for part of the season. Freshman Yebin Ban stepped into a larger role, and the Matadors kept winning. Marinho returned and provided another piece to an increasingly deep lineup.

Men's soccer has dealt with injuries and lineup changes while continuing to win. Women's soccer has continued finding results despite playing largely without last season's leading scorer Reina Kasano, along with other absences throughout the year.

Different players have been asked to step forward.

They have.

That's perhaps the best definition of depth. It isn't simply having talent on the bench. It's having someone prepared when their opportunity arrives. The freshman asked to perform like a veteran. The reserve suddenly receiving starter's minutes. The player willing to accept a different role and surrounding them are assistant coaches helping recruit and develop those rosters and athletic trainers working to keep student-athletes competing. That is how programs become sustainable. The names change but the expectations don't have to.

When Winning Becomes Culture

Maybe that's where 46-1-5 becomes most interesting. It's not simply what the three teams have accomplished. It's what has grown around them.

More than half a dozen AWC students are working in athletics gameday operations, gaining practical experience alongside teams producing some of the best results in school history.

They're taking photographs, providing play-by-play and color commentary, keeping score and live statistics, operating clocks, announcing games, managing music and helping with social media.

They're not scoring goals or recording kills. They're still part of the championship experience. The athletes are learning how to compete at a championship level while other students are learning how to photograph it, broadcast it, document it and promote it. College athletics at Arizona Western is another classroom. A student can walk into a gym with a camera and discover photography. Another can sit behind a microphone and discover broadcasting. Others can leave with experience in statistics, game operations, public-address announcing or digital media.

Success on the court and field begins creating opportunities beyond it. Head coaches establish expectations. Assistant coaches help recruit and develop the athletes capable of meeting them. Athletic trainers help keep those athletes competing. Players step forward when their numbers are called. Students tell their stories. Fans and communities have something to gather around.

That's culture.

From One Season to the Next

Perhaps the most exciting part is that the larger story surrounding Arizona Western College Athletics isn't reaching its conclusion. It's changing seasons.

As volleyball and soccer move toward postseason play, basketball is preparing to inherit the momentum.

Women's basketball enters the new season coming off back-to-back NJCAA Division I National Tournament appearances, with head coach Chelsea Dewey becoming the first AWC women's basketball coach to reach consecutive national tournaments in program history.

Its most recent ticket was punched in unforgettable fashion.

AWC traveled to Thatcher for the 2026 Region I championship and stunned No. 1 Eastern Arizona College, 51-50, snapping the Gila Monsters' 29-game winning streak. Garance Soulas scored 15 points and delivered the deciding basket in the closing seconds. Eastern Arizona again. Apparently, some themes are difficult to escape. The Gila Monsters would go on to win the NJCAA National Championship after that loss. 

The men's basketball program carries championship credentials of its own.

Head coach Kyle Isaacs and the Matadors captured the 2025-26 ACCAC regular-season championship outright, the program's first outright conference crown in 17 years. 

Suddenly the success isn't confined to one fall. The success is overlapping.

The soccer balls will eventually stop rolling. The final volleyball will eventually hit the floor. Then basketballs will start bouncing inside "The House".

New rosters. New challenges. The same expectations.

Come See It

For Yuma and the surrounding communities, there is another part to this story.

An invitation.

If you haven't attended an athletic event on the Arizona Western College campus recently, now is your chance to see some of the nation's top junior college programs playing right here in the Desert Southwest.

Volleyball closes its regular-season home schedule against the College of Southern Nevada on Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 24 at 1 p.m.

Friday night will also celebrate the Matadors' sophomores, with the AWC pep band helping add to the atmosphere.

Then the postseason comes to Yuma. The men's and women's soccer programs have earned the right to host Region I semifinal action starting with men's soccer on Tuesday, Oct. 27th at 7pm followed by women's soccer on Oct. 28th at 7 p.m. at Matador Field. 

Those No. 1 seeds mean something tangible. The road through Region I runs through Yuma. If you've been following the scores, seeing highlights on social media or hearing about what these teams have accomplished, this is an opportunity to experience it for yourself. Right now, it's happening.

The 46-1-5 record tells us how much Arizona Western College has won this fall. Everything surrounding those wins tells us something more important about what is being built.

Different people.

Different roles.

Different sports.

One culture.

Something special is happening at Arizona Western.

The time to see it is now.