Julian Rosa is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Basha High School for AZPreps365.com.

The Basha Bears girls volleyball team split their opening two matches of the Nike Tournament of Champions Friday, falling to North Raleigh Christian in three sets and defeating Trinity Catholic in straight sets.

The Bears opened the tournament at South Mountain Community College  facing a very tough opponent in North Raleigh Christian, who got off to a hot start, winning the first set, 25-21.

“The teams in this tournament are on another level of skill that you don’t see often in Arizona volleyball, Basha head coach Terri Spann said. "We have to be able to strategize for that, and shut certain opponents down to give ourselves the best chance to win.”

The second set showed why the Bears are regarded as one of the elite volleyball teams in the Valley. Led by senior transfer Jaelyn Hodge’s six kills, Basha forced a third set, 25-18.

“Not only was it important for Hodges to be on the court, but her presence set the tone for the entire match.

"I’m trying to get her to compete and get in the flow of things as soon as possible,” Spann said. This is only Hodge’s 2nd game, as she only recently became eligible after transferring from Queen Creek.

Basha trailed 5-2 and 11-7 in the final set, before  a 6-1 scoring run to take the lead 13-12, but eventually fell to North Raleigh Christian 15-13.

Based on the format of the tournament, the Bears were scheduled to play again immediately after their first game, this time up against Trinity Catholic.

“It’s difficult to regroup, focus on the next task at hand and not dwell on the loss so quickly, but I felt we did a good job on it as a team,” senior captain Samantha Drewry said.

The first set was dominated by Hodge, who had sixmore kills to add her total up to 22 kills in the first two tournament games. The Bears, at one point winning 20-9, finished off the first set, 25-13. 

Unlike the game’s opening set, the set that followed showed a different Basha, one that when their backs were against the wall they stuck to the principles that their coach has taught them. Don’t stop competing. 

“Coach Spann does a great job of teaching us to compete and never back down, and it showed in the second set,” Hodge said. Hodge had four more crucial kills in the second set, three of which were on the last five points of the game.

Drewry strung together five kills in seven total possible point opportunities to bring her team back from down 20-15,  to up 22-20, a 7-0 run, eventually winning the set and the match, 30-28.

“I cannot afford to not have Samantha Drewry on the court. She's extremely crucial to this team's communication on the court and her leadership skills on this team are second to none,” Spann said.

The Bears (7-3) are scheduled to continue play in the Nike Tournament of Champions this weekend at South Mountain Community College, and then continue conference play when they host Hamilton (6-4) on Tuesday.