A week ago Seton Catholic's girls volleyball team had a leg up on American Leadership Queen Creek in the battle for the 4A Desert Sky Region title.

That came via the Sentinels' 3-0 win in their first region meeting Oct. 21 in three very tight sets. Seton lost its advantage in its next match falling to Mesquite. The teams entered their region final Wednesday night tied for first with 6-1 records so the winner would garner region bragging rights.

It wasn't quite as close at the first time (27-25, 25-22, 25-22), but #5 Seton brought home the region crown in front of its home fans with a 25-23, 25-18, 25-22 triumph over #7 ALA Queen Creek. Seton is now 13-3 in power-ranking matches and won the region with a 7-1 mark. ALA Queen Creek fell to 14-2, 6-2 with its only losses region encounters to Seton.

"I thought we played a little better this time," Seton coach James Johnson said. "We were more consistent. We took advantage of their missed serves in the first set and just kept pressing."

The opening set was the closest and Seton used some good fortune to prevail. Seton led late, 19-17, and was up by as many as six earlier in the set. ALA Queen Creek's rally suffered down the stretch from the service line. Four service errors provided the Sentinels with four of its final six points. ALA Queen Creek had six service errors total in the set.

A 5-0 run in the second set brought Seton back from a 7-6 deficit. A kill by setter Gracie Shearan, who finished with 26 assists, and two aces by Katherine Lalicata keyed the run. The Sentinels gradually pulled away from there for a 2-0 advantage.

Seemed like Seton lost focus in the third set after building a 22-1 lead. Seton's attack fell apart (five hitting errors plus a service error) and ALA Queen Creek managed four kills and an ace to cut the margin to 24-22. The Sentinels Emilee Horky ended the match with the last of her team-high 11 kills.

Lalicata added nine kills for Seton and Kyleigh Ganz chipped in with eight kills. Libero Rachel Martinez had 20 digs and Shearan and Kayliegh Washkowiak contributed six digs each.

Three players handled most of the attack for ALA Queen Creek. Avery Anderson led unofficially with 11 kills, followed by Azure Mcomber with eight and Sage Matheny with sixx.

Both schools close out the regular season on Thursday with home matches. Seton takes on #43 Tempe High and ALA Queen Creek faces #10 Greenway.