Kiana Solomon is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Phoenix Country Day School for AZPreps365.com 

Coming off a loss last week to Rancho Solano Prep, Phoenix Country Day School was ready for the Desert Classic Tournament and a return home. 

“We went in with an optimistic mindset because we had a rough match a couple days ago where we got swept 3-0 which put us in a really rough mindset,'' said sophomore Ella Cabbil. ''But we had some time to reflect on our mistake.”

The reflection paid off. PCDS went 3-1 and won the consolagtion bracket.

The Eagles started out the tournament with wins against Valley Lutheran and NFL Yet Preparatory Academy.

But the Eagles fell to Gilbert Christian in a close match. The Knights, who had lost to Valley Lutheran, won 2-1 with the clincher by two points. 

“I was going into that third set thinking we were going to win but sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way we want it to,” said Cabbil 

Said Drewitz: "We got on a run in the beginning and then we made one error and it lead to more and more points for them and we couldn’t catch up.''

The Eagles went on to win the consolation bracket. 

“We were looking forward to trying new things,'' said coach Kat Glaeseman. "Since these games don’t count on our record we were hoping to try different lineups, set different hitters, try to set different plays, and work on skills that we didn’t have time to work on at practice,.

Three Eagles made the All-Tournament team - Lilly Robinson, Alex Xanthos and Ellie Rink.

“Lilly is huge for us,'' said Glaeseman.''She cleans up all our mistakes and makes the ball better and Alex Xanthos is solid and steady in our back row.”

Added Cabbill: ''She’s just doing such a good job at leading the court. She did a really good job today encouraging us.''

The Eagles have three back-to-back-to-back home games this week. 

“Using this tournament we can change what we practice and change and talk about what worked,” said Glaeseman.