West Valley Preps' 2026 Goodyear/Surprise girls volleyball preview

By Richard Smith
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X: @rsmithYWV

The high school girls volleyball season began Aug. 26 at schools across the state. West Valley Preps, the Litchfield Park/Goodyear Independent and the Surprise Independent asked local high school coaches about their teams. Here are their responses:

Desert Edge Scorpions

Coach: Tiffany Liddile (first season as head coach)
2025 Record: 14-14 overall, 6-6 region (5A play-in)
Region: 5A Desert West
Who are your top returning players?: Shadai Wilson, Makayla Rawlings-Henry, Jayda Howard and Kaitlyn Palermino.
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year? Kennedi Cornelius, Shy Brown and Aaliyah Nunez.
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? Defense. We have a group that is willing to work hard, pursue balls and make teams earn their points.
Which teams on this season’s schedule are you most looking forward to and will be the toughest? Verrado and Buckeye. Both will be competitive matchups and will give us an opportunity to see how we respond against strong competition.
What are the primary goals for this year’s team? Our primary goals are to establish a new standard for Desert Edge volleyball centered around accountability, communication, consistency, and competing together. We want to continue developing our volleyball IQ and defensive identity while becoming a team that can execute and respond under pressure. Most importantly, we want to compete for a playoff spot, make a strong postseason run, and build a foundation for sustained success in this program.

Estrella Foothills Wolves

Coach: Michael Matteson (second season as head coach)
2025 Record: 21-7-5 overall, 9-1 region (4A first round)
Region: 4A West Valley
Who are your top returning players?: Our top returning players are senior libero Giselle Wochner, senior middle Naomi Silva and junior Opposite Olivia Salsbury.
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year? Junior setter Frida Jimenez, who played on JV last year, is already having a large impact on running our offense. Sophomore defensive specialist Grace Ramirez is stepping up in the back row.
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? Our team's best attribute entering this season is their resiliency. Their ability to persevere through long close matches, and to never give up, even if we are down in points.
Which teams on this season’s schedule are you most looking forward to and will be the toughest? This season we are looking forward to a couple of our out of conference matchups with local rivals Verrado and Buckeye. We are also looking forward to new region competition with ALA-West Foothills and Goodyear High School. Verrado will likely be our toughest matchup.

Valley Vista Monsoon

Coach: Lynne Myers (first season as caoch)
2025 Record: 6-16 overall, 5-3 region
Region: 6A West Valley
Who are your top returning players?: Our senior returners, Kylee DeJesus and Jaliyah Hernandez, will be important pieces for us this season. Both bring varsity experience and understand what it takes to compete at this level. As seniors, we’re looking for them to provide leadership, consistency, and help set the standard for the younger players in our program.
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year? We have a talented group of sophomores in Allie Hewitt, Elena Fraire and Ariella Chairez who have the potential to make an impact for us this season. They’re young, but they’ve shown a willingness to compete, learn, and take on bigger roles. I’m excited to watch their confidence grow as they gain varsity experience throughout the season.
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? I would say our willingness to work and grow together. This group is competitive and coachable and they’re beginning to understand the importance of playing for one another. We’re establishing a new standard for the program, and I’ve been encouraged by their willingness to embrace that process.
Which teams on this season’s schedule are you most looking forward to and will be the toughest? We have several challenging matches on our schedule, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we respond to those opportunities. Our focus is less about one particular opponent and more about preparing ourselves to compete every time we step on the court. Those tougher matches will show us where we are, where we need to improve, and how well we can respond under pressure.
What are the primary goals for this year’s team? Our biggest goal this season is to raise the standard of Valley Vista volleyball. That means establishing a culture built on discipline, accountability, consistency, and competing at a high level. We absolutely want to win and put ourselves in a position to compete in the postseason, but success for us is also about developing our players, building confidence, and creating a foundation for sustained success throughout the entire program.

Willow Canyon Wildcats

Coach: Matt Overfelt (10th season)
2025 Record: 23-16 overall, 4-6 region (5A first round)
Region: 5A Northwest
Who are your top returning players?: Our team will be lead this year by seniors Shia Chancellor (OH), Emory Scogin (L), Keely Blady (S) and juniors Aspen Edwards (OH) and Emylia Coffman. All of them bring extensive experience and positive attitudes to the court.
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year? Freshmen Rylee Thompson will be a force at the net and Espy Blady is a defensive dynamo. Both will have a big impact this year.
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? Experience and endless optimism will serve us well. This tan truly enjoys playing together.
Which teams on this season’s schedule are you most looking forward to and will be the toughest? We have a very tough schedule this year, which includes Horizon, Notre Dame Prep, Campo Verde, ACP, and our usual tough region of Sunrise Mountain, Centennial, and Ironwood. We can’t wait to compete against all of them.
What are the primary goals for this year’s team? We have a goal of competing every night no matter who our opponent is and getting better every match.

Richard Smith
Senior News Editor | Glendale & West Valley Preps

rsmith@iniusa.org

Richard Smith has been with Independent Newsmedia since 2016, and worked at a Sun City-based news outfit covering the Northwest Valley for 22 consecutive years.

An NAU alum and lifelong Arizona resident, Richard began as a copy editor and page designer at Surprise Today and the Daily News-Sun, then rekindled his love of sports writing by taking the reins on West Valley Preps in 2008.

For most of the mid-2010s he was the Surprise editor and West Valley Preps reporter. Now he’s the West Valley Preps Editor and Surprise Associate Editor.

As COVID restrictions slowly lift, Richard is cautiously optimistic he will visit book stores, football fields and gyms again this fall.