By Brittany Bowyer
Mail

GLENDALE — In the final game of the regular season, no. 4 Cactus Volleyball walked away with a 3-1 victory over no. 7 Saguaro Thursday night. It was a back-and-forth battle to establish dominance for both teams, but Cactus was ultimately able to dig deep and find what they needed to power ahead. It was a great redemption win for Cactus, as when the two teams faced off just last week, Saguaro got the best of Cactus, defeating them 3-0.

“It’s pretty amazing, but we’ve been practicing really hard just to beat that team,” Cactus Head Coach Debbie Martin said.

Led by outside hitters, senior Layla Long and sophomore Skye Moore, the Cobras attack would be too much for Saguaro to overcome.

“They’re very spicy, both of them,” Coach Martin said about Long and Moore. “They bring kills. They’re terminators.”

Coach Bundy said the Sabercats were down two key players, which made a dent on their play, but they had other girls who stepped up in the wake of their absence.

“Having JV players come up and play, trying to fill those roles,” Coach Bundy said. “Overall, I’m really proud of my girls. We had one set that looked ugly. We had another set that looked fantastic, and then two that kinda could have gone either way, and that’s just kind of how it goes.”

Set one was a back-and-forth battle by both teams to take the lead, as neither team was able to get up by more than two. Eventually Cactus was able to get on top, 13-12 holding on to the lead for a brief time before they’ed eventually end up tied again. Cactus eventually worked its way to a 20-18 lead, but the Sabercats were able to come back and tie things at 21 on an ace from junior May Bystrom, forcing Cactus to call a timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, Saguaro’s serve went out of bounds to give Cactus a brief lead before the ball went out out bounds on the following rally, tying things up again at 22.

Saguaro couldn’t get the ball over the net on the following rally, giving Cactus a 23-22 lead once again, and from there, the Cobras were able to close out the set. A huge block from sophomore Addison Martin put them up 24-22. Saguaro attempted to close the gap with a kill from sophomore Sloan Kribel, but it was too late. A kill from Long would put Saguaro away in set one 25-23 and give the Cobras a 1-0 lead.

“Missing our two middles, not being able to put up as effective of a block as we’re normally able to,” Coach Bundy said. “Their outsides were just able to take advantage of it, again, as they should have,”

Set two got underway and was similar to set one, with both teams clawing to get on top. A kill from senior Nylah Bibby would give Saguaro a 4-3 lead, and from there the Sabercats were able to keep the momentum going, working their way out to a 13-6 lead. Saguaro started making some mental mistakes in set two which allowed Cactus to catch back up. After a block from Moore, the Sabercats called a timeout, holding on to a slight 16-14 lead.

Despite a kill from Martin coming out of the timeout, Saguaro was able to score three unanswered, taking a 19-15 lead and forcing Cactus to call a timeout. The momentum was already behind the Sabercats at this point in the set, who were able to close out the set 25-20 thanks to strong efforts from Kribel.

After two sets, things were tied 1-1.

Set three was all Cactus early on. An ace from Long would extend the Cobras’ lead to 12-5, forcing Saguaro to call a timeout to try to regroup. Long was on fire, though, as she came out of the timeout with an ace to keep thins rolling for Cactus.

After a violation by Saguaro and huge block from junior Ziara Pauli, the Cobras were leading 19-10. Back-to-back aces from Long would make it 21-10, forcing Saguaro to use another timeout in the set. Cactus was fired up, though, and came back out focused. They closed out the set 25-12 on a violation by Saguaro to take a 2-1 lead.

Saguaro was feeling the pressure early on in set four as both teams once again were fighting to establish dominance. Cactus went up by one point early in set four, and eventually were able to work to a 9-6 lead. Saguaro kept attempting to tie things, but everytime they’d get within one, Cactus would pull away again.

Following an ace from Saguaro sophomore Jillian Flora to cut the lead 14-13, Cactus answered with Moore going on an absolute tear. After pushing the Cactus lead to 18-13, Saguaro was forced to call a timeout in set four before things got too far out of hand. However, the damage was already done, as the differential would be too much to overcome for the Sabercats. Cactus walked away with set four 25-21, closing things out with a kill from Moore to win the match 3-1.

Coach Martin said this win would help the team’s mental state as they head into the post-season.

“It’s just exactly what we needed,” Martin said.

While Coach Martin wasn’t 100-percent certain, she was pretty sure the winner of the game would win the region.

“I’m not sure,” Martin said. “Someone said yes, but I don’t know. I’ll wait for the official announcement.”

She was correct, though. Cactus finished in first place for the 4A Desert Sky region. Saguaro finished in second.

Now, the teams will wait for the final brackets to be released on Wednesday, Nov. 4.

The fourth-ranked Cobras finished the regular season with a record of 15-5, while the seventh-ranked Sabercats finished the season 21-6.

“We’re in a good spot,” Coach Martin said. “We’re through with the injuries, knock on wood, and we’ve gone through a lot of adversity this season, but we’ve surpassed it and kids have stepped up and played different positions. Played positions that they normally don’t play, so I’m very happy.”

“This is not how we want to end the regular season, but tying for the second-most wins in our school’s history, I’m still going to take that win of how amazing my girls have done this season,” Coach Bundy said. “We’re excited for what comes next. We’re excited to make a run in state. This is an incredible group of girls.”

Bundy said he believes a game like this right before the playoffs reminds them of what they need to do moving forward.

“In the top eight, we’ve seen six of the seven teams, not counting us,” Coach Bundy said. “So we know what the competition is like. We know there’s really fantastic teams, some really good players out there. So this just reminds us that nothing is going to be handed to us. If we want it we have to go out and take it.”

Brittany Bowyer is a Report for America corps member, covering sports for Independent Newsmedia in Arizona. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.