Mustangs hold off resilient Horizon Honors

Steve Stockmar West Valley Preps

Talk afterward was all about fire, and there was plenty in Tuesday night’s 5A boys volleyball state playoff quarterfinal in Peoria.

The 6-seed Sunrise Mountain Mustangs hosted the 14-seed Phoenix Horizon Honors Eagles with a berth in the 5A Final Four on the line, and it was the Mustangs having the final say on an energetic night of playoff volleyball in their 3-1 win, by scores of 25-23, 22-25, 25-16, 25-17.

The victory clinched the first state semifinal berth in the history of the Sunrise boys’ volleyball program, and was helped mostly from a closing sequence by senior outside hitter Chad Stewart, who piled up three of the Mustangs’ thrilling final four points of the match.

"I was on fire, man," said the high-flying Stewart, who entered the match with the fifth highest hitting percentage (.370) in all of 5A.

Sunrise, winners of seven straight and 13 of 14 matches overall, advances to the 5A Final Four to take on 7-seed Gilbert Higley at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday at Highland High School in Gilbert. The bracket’s other side pits 1-seed Deer Valley against 5-seed American Leadership Academy, with the state championship following May 11 at Gilbert Mesquite High School.

Both teams had their sizzling moments.

After dropping the opening game, the Eagles, who entered the night with a seven-match winning streak, never trailed at all in Game 2 to knot the match.

But the Mustangs responded with a wire-to-wire win in Game 3, at one point pushing the advantage to nine points, which would be the biggest lead of the night by either team. Sunrise claimed the pivotal 2-1 match lead heading into Game 4.

"We were on fire," Horizon Honors head coach Lisa Barlow said. "And then in Game 3 we stopped swinging. We just tipped way too much. We can’t score on tips. Even though (Sunrise Mountain) scored on tips, the only way our team can actually win is by swinging. We stopped swinging."

With the season on the line for Horizon Honors, Game 4 was the tightest game of the night.

The game’s first 18 serves featured six ties and two lead changes as both clubs traded blows. The Eagles held one brief lead and battled to as close as 17-14 before Sunrise Mountain surged late.

Stewart clobbered consecutive kills, and then posted another crucial point, this time on defense with a booming block at the net to bring the match to game-point. Another Stewart kill sealed the deal.

"I don’t think it was that good of a matchup," Stewart added. "They’re the 16-seed and we’re the 6. I mean we knew it was gonna be a win."

The program posted only one official playoff win before this season - in 2010. Last year, the Mustangs beat rival Liberty in a 5A play-in game, but lost at Tucson Catalina Foothills in the first round.

However, with the heart of that team returning, no one in the program was surprised to be one of the last teams standing.

"Our goal at the beginning of the season was we wanted to win a state tournament because we thought we had the players to do it," said Mustangs head coach Tony Gale, whose team has won back-to-back West Valley Region titles. "We have size, we have athleticism, we have a good setter, we have a good libero. So we have all the pieces. We’ve just never been in that situation. It was a matter of can we handle the pressure of winning these big matches, and we’re doing a good job."

Steve Stockmar can be reached at 623-876-2567 or sstockmar@newszap.com. Continue the discussion at yourvalley.net.