Mac Friday is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Horizon Honors for AZPreps365.com.

After dropping its first game of the year against Valley Christian and rebounding to claim its first win of the season against Benjamin Franklin, the Horizon Honors girls volleyball team faced another opponent it shared history with - Chandler Prep.

The last time the Eagles lost to the Titans was in the semifinals of the 2015 state tournament. However, on Wednesday, Chandler Prep responded with a decisive sweep 25-14, 25-23, 25-19.

Despite the deflating loss, the Eagles offensive attack proved to be much more diverse than it was in their first game against Valley Christian.

Coach Kris Maglunog dove into the numbers with his team in hopes of finding the right players to support Cook and open up offensive opportunities.  

“We aren’t a superwoman type of team, we can’t have one person carry us on their back,” Maglunog said. “We have to play together and get better together.”

Cook, the cornerstone of the Eagles offense, entered the game with 32 kills and tallied another 10 against the Titans. However, Maglunog’s digging managed to introduce two players to the spotlight with standout performances of their own.

Senior middle blocker Mya Smith tallied two kills and four blocks and sophomore outside hitter Liz Stover had eight kills, an ace and a block of her own.

“I think the team has really helped me boost my confidence,” said Stover, one of two underclassmen. "They’re an amazing group and they have pushed me to be the player they know I can be.”

Chandler Prep opened the contest with aggressive offense, pressuring the Horizon Honors defense into making mistakes. This fierce approach caught the Eagles off-guard and hitting errors cost them valuable points in the first set.

“We were really caught inside of our own heads,” senior captain Jordan Cook said. “After one mistake we got down on ourselves and our mental game just wasn’t there.”

As the second set heated up, the Eagles began to respond to the adversity with an offense effort of their own. Down 18-12, they went on a massive run to put themselves within a point of the Titans. However, their success was short-lived as a huge kill from Chandler Prep ended the set and sucked the air out of the Eagles gym.

“It’s really hard to bounce back after something like that,” Cook said. “It can be really difficult to go into the next set and try to lift everyone up.”

Looking forward for Horizon Honors is a rematch with the team that knocked them out of last year’s state tournament, Fountain Hills, on Thursday.