Zach Woodard is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Ironwood High School for AZPreps365.com.

On Thursday night, the Ironwood High School Eagles girl's volleyball team matched up in a non-conference game against the Independence High School Patriots.

Ironwood came into this game having played nine games over a span of three days just one week ago in Red Mountain’s Tournament of Champions, where they faced top talent against teams like Corona del Sol, Chandler and even Millennium. According to Ironwood head coach Lisa Lopez, the girls finished 15th out of 36 teams invited to that tournament. They also were fresh off a four-set win against Paradise Valley on Tuesday night.

The Eagles wasted no time to start the game. With quick points from Ruby Beeson, Sedona Anderson and Mariah Hall, they jumped out to a 16-2 lead, forcing head coach Michelle Monaghan and the Patriots to burn two quick timeouts. Ironwood would follow up with a 9-4 run to win the first set (25-6).

After winning a relatively easy first set, the Eagles had to stay poised and night lose sight of their pre-game goals. “We have talked from day one no matter who the opponent is, we have to have that mental stability, mental toughness,” said Lopez. “I think they did a really good job with that today, even with the score deficit.”

The second set started off with an ace from junior Madison Hidalgo, her second of the match. This would spark a 7-0 run, prompting coach Monaghan to burn another Independence timeout. With more points scored by Beeson and Anderson, the Eagles found themselves leading 20-7. Hidalgo would add onto the lead with three more aces in a row.

“I had to keep my cool because I was getting really excited and didn’t want to slow down,” she said.

Hidalgo would finish with eight aces on the night, six of them coming in the second set alone. She attacked their defense and “could see them standing straight up” which allowed her to score with ease. Sedona Anderson would finish up with two big kills, winning the set 25-9.

The third set was more of the same. Ironwood scored 13 unanswered points to start and didn’t take their foot off the brake. The Patriots seemed to be demoralized towards the end of the match, and self-inflicted errors turned out to be the death of them, scoring only five total points the third set. Sophomore Victoria White scored four points of her own to win the set (25-5) and win the match in straight sets.

With just two wins prior in the regular season, the Eagles were able to capture their third win overall and second of the week. “It really hyped us and makes us excited for the rest of the season,” Hidalgo said.

“Tomorrow we are back to the drawing board. We are back in the weight room and back to business as usual, come up Monday,” Lopez said.

After a great showing on Thursday night, the women’s volleyball team can use this momentum and this win to push themselves more and more.

“We know that we have stuff to work on,” Lopez said. “We know that other teams are improving day by day, and we want to do the same.”

The season is just getting started for the Eagles, as they have a tough matchup against the Gilbert Tigers coming up on Tuesday, Sept. 21.