The return to full action of one of its key players the past three seasons on Thursday night paid dividends for Arizona College Prep's girls volleyball team as the Knights got back on track with  a hard-fought, five-set victory over Chandler Prep. Scores were 23-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-22 and 15-6.

ACP is 2-3 on the season and the losses are the most coach Heather Orr has experienced this early in a season. It comes with the territory as the Knights have a target on their backs each match having been 3A runner-up to Northwest Christian last year. 

Senior outside-middle Krista Rowan, who suffered a subluxation fracture in her leg a couple months back, had only played a set here and there in ACP's first four matches. She was cleared to go full on Thursday and offered the lift coach Heather Orr expected she would.

"Her presence was needed and she played very well," Orr said. "She's been so courageous. We played her at right side to get her back slowly. She's never played right side, but she handled it well. She played better and better as the match went on. Her teammates believe in her."

Rowan paced a very balanced offensive attack leading in kills unofficially with 12. She served a 7-1 run in the second set that turned a two-point deficit to a four-point lead ACP did not reliquish and evened the match at 1-1. Right behind Rowan in kills were setter-outside Julia Golichowski with 11 and outside Elise Jimenez with 11. 

Also helping the offense with her power hitting in the final three sets was sophomore Aliyah Jones. Jones had six kills, most of them in fourth set helping ACP keep the match going with its narrow win in the set.

"She (Jones) is super powerful," Orr said. "She's our strongest player. She made a difference when we needed it.

The final set was an aberration from the first four with ACP racing to 4-0 and 9-1 leads that saw Chandler Prep burn its two timeouts to try and slay momentum. Little went right for Chandler Prep despite the breaks in action, which still has gotten off to a 5-2 power-ranking match start and 8-4 mark overall.

"They have a good team and getting Krista back made them stronger," Chandler Prep coach Anthony Jones said. "No. 13 (Jones) was crushing the ball. The entire match was a set of runs. Both teams got behind several points and were able to come back and take a lead. That's the hallmark of good teams. We might see them again this weekend at Estrella Foothill (tournament)."

Leading Chandler Prep on the attack unofficially was junior outside Olivia Cadien (11 kills), senior outside Marin Scoggin (10 kills) and middle Evi Yates (nine kills).