Last year’s Player of the Year in the 2A Conference’s North Region has served similar notice to her new South Region volleyball rivals.

Round Valley High School senior Karli Haws had 17 kills, an ace and two blocks Tuesday, Oct. 6, to lead the Elks to their fifth straight-set victory in their first six matches, 25-14, 25-7 and 25-6 over Santa Cruz Valley High School.

“She’s fantastic, a great leader who has improved her game,” Elks head coach Marcelle Donaldson said of Haws after the match. “She’s one of our best diggers as well. If we can get a pass, Karli’s going to get a good hit.”

The 6-0 start projects the Elks among the top five teams in the 2A Conference when the AIA debuts its power rankings tomorrow, Oct. 8, at noon. (Follow the link to download the AZPreps app and get the rankings two hours early.)

The record also represents the Elks’ best since 2012, when they began 12-0-1 before losing a tiebreaker at St. Johns High School and eventually falling in another tiebreaker in the first round of the state playoffs.

“We will not be looking past them,” Donaldson said of the Redskins, who came over to the South Region with the Elks this fall after coronavirus outbreaks forced San Carlos and Santa Rita high schools to cancel their volleyball seasons. “We did not know what the South had to offer, but we were cautiously optimistic. We are very excited to be where we are.”

Donaldson’s 5-1 formation, which defaults to just one setter, junior Shiloh McCall, and two hitters, Haws and junior MacKenzie Merrill, at the net, achieved the home sweep Sept. 29 of second-place St. Johns.

But not before a near-collapse almost cost the Elks the first set--and their first set of the season.

“We had that moment, up 22-17, when, before we knew it, we were down 22-23,” Donaldson said. “We came back to win it 25-23. That showed us we were able to, mentally, not fold and stay positive when we were down.”

That positive resilience served Round Valley well two days later, when it did drop the second set, 25-14, at St. Augustine Catholic in the first match of a doubleheader at the Tucson private high school.

“We knew they were the No. 1 team in the South, but their coaches told us they had graduated their best players,” Donaldson said. “We felt very fortunate we were able to beat them twice. They were just very aggressive, a very good-serving team.”

McCall’s 50 assists and 17 digs, combined with 28 digs from Merrill--a second-team all-North Region outside hitter last year--supported Haws’ 28 kills enough to overcome the Wolves in the next five sets and return to Eagar with the doubleheader sweep.

“We kind of self-destruct if we try and outmaneuver other teams,” Donaldson said. “Just go out and play our game, stick to the basics, and we’re good. I think that’s the goal every night.”

With the exception of fourth-place Miami High School, who Round Valley will not face until Thursday, Oct. 15, South Region opponents have not been able to counter Haws or her regular connection in McCall, an All-North Region honorable mention at setter last season.

“To be honest, we haven’t played teams with a whole lot of great hitters,” Donaldson said. “So, as the season goes along, and we play those teams with great hitters, girls are going to need to be ready.”

This means that, although this year’s team is one of the most fundamentally sound Donaldson has ever had, by the time perennial 3A East power Snowflake High School visits Round Valley in three weeks, the back line players will need to be quicker to their spots on the floor.

Throughout the summer, Donaldson and the rest of the Elks’ coaching staff were fortunate enough to be able to work continuously in camps and speed training with middle blockers Mireya Wood and Kyrie Walker, along with freshman Lauren Bates, who starts along the back line in all the Elks’ junior varsity games as well.

“She is very talented and understands the game very well,” Donaldson said. “She is just struggling to find her place on the varsity team and not be intimidated.

“We have great diggers, but sometimes, our blockers, they’re just late.”

When Bates needs relief, it comes off the bench with one of those great diggers, junior Jessica Soderberg, who along with senior Kenadee Bell is one of Donaldson’s two all-purpose substitutes on a three-girl bench. Senior Belle Walker, who led the Elks with seven aces in their first of two wins at St. Augustine, fills in along the back row for Kyrie Walker when a libero is needed.

“Everybody else stays in,” Donaldson said. “MacKenzie’s having a great season, and hats off to our setter, Shiloh: She always gets to the ball really well.”

With opponents keying on Haws, a valedictorian candidate at Round Valley with a 4.0 grade-point average, support for her production will be key to the Elks continuing their hot start--and advancing out of the first round of the state playoffs, where they lost again at Morenci High School last season in four sets.

“We had some calls go against us then, but I think the girls were peaking at the right time,” Donaldson said. “We’re continuing that into this season.

“I believe, definitely, we’re just having fun and focusing on having each other’s back. That’s really our motto this year, is unity. I feel like we’re working as a team. Everyone understands their roles, so we’re more successful.”