Gilbert High's girls volleyball team may be getting its growl back.

After a couple of off seasons dropping from 6A and adjusting to new foes in 5A, the Tigers are indicating they intend to compete for the region title and perhaps a bit more in 2019.

Gilbert was just under .500 last year in dropping from 6A to 5A and struggled in 2017 to a 6-29 mark in 6A. 

For the second night in a row, Gilbert polished off a 5A San Tan Region opponent in three sets, easily topping Williams Field, 25-13, 25-5 and 25-16 on Wednesday at The Jungle.

Gilbert is tied for first with defending region champ Campo Verde at 2-0. the teams don't face one another in region matches until mid-October.

"We've had a couple down years," longtime Gilbert coach Joe Hesse said. "So far this year we've beaten the teams we need to beat and lost to teams we should have. We've played a lot of matches. We played in three tournaments three weekends in a row.

"We're not having our tournament this year so we went to Payson last week. The girls had some fun. We played 11 matches (won them all) mostly against smaller (conference) teams."

In its first home region match after topping Casteel on the road Tuesday, Gilbert (24--10 overall, 5-3 power ranking matches and 2-0 region) had little trouble disposing of Williams Field. Glbert was methodical in winning with plenty of solid play mixed in with the Black Hawks struggles, particularly in the second set.

Gilbert's leader is sophomore outside Naia Stewart. Stewart contributed 10 kills, three blocks, four aces and served 12 consecutive points (three of her aces) that took Gilbert from a 8-1 lead to 20-1 in the second set.

"Naia had a good season for us last year," Hesse said. "She's a rising star. This is her team. She knows it and she accepts it. We played well tonight. Made some mistakes. Most were good mistakes."

Gilbert's Naia Stewart on the attack in the Tigers' win over Williams Field. (Azpreps365 photo)

Equaling Stewart in kills with 10 was junior teammate Madison Cadden and senior middle Elizabeth Toiaivao. Junior middle Macie Beuadoin chipped in four kills.

Williams Field dropped to 4-4 in power ranking matches and 1-1 in region. The Black Hawks swept Maricopa in its first region match on Tuesday. Williams Field's uofficial leader on the attack was junior hitter Makayla Simmons with seven.