Josh Schwam is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Bourgade Catholic High School for AZPreps365.com  

PHOENIX– The Bourgade Catholic Golden Eagles picked up their first set victory since Sept. 12, but were unable to mount a comeback as the Cortez Colts secured their first victory of the year in four sets, 25-20, 25-23, 12-25, 25-21, Monday night at Cortez High School.

Bourgade (1-8, 0-4) was without coach Raeleen Naki-Bajet, who was out with illness. Despite her absence, the squad battled through multiple setbacks in the match.

“Coach Rae would be proud,” her husband and assistant coach, Channan Naki-Bajet said. “They battled through a lot and tonight proved they can win if we play good volleyball.”

Cortez (1-8, 0-7) rattled off eight of the first 11 points of the match. The Golden Eagles committed four errors and a net violation in the stretch. Bourgade went on a 4-0 run out of the timeout, cutting the Colts’ lead, but were unable to fully bridge the gap and dropped the set, 25-20. Cortez rattled off three of the last four points.

Bourgade smacked five kills and three aces in the set, while Cortez matched their five kills and served six aces.

Momentum shifted to the Golden Eagles at the start of the second set as they jumped out to an 8-3 lead and forced the first Colts timeout of the night. Cortez sophomore middle Kyra Williams rattled off three straight kills and an ace out of the timeout to bring the Colts back into the set. She finished the match with a team-high five kills.

“Really good job by Kyra,” Cortez coach Alberto Ramos said. “She had good runs that helped us win.”

Despite Williams’ personal run, Cortez was unable to shut the gap after several violations and two errors. They called another timeout, trailing 18-12.

“I just told them it was sloppy,” Ramos said. “It was our own mistakes, and if we clean that up, we would win the set.”

The timeout halted Bourgade’s momentum as the Colts went on a 13-5 stretch to close the second set win, 25-23.

Bourgade came out firing again in the third set and this time did not let up. After dropping the first two points of the frame, they rattled off 10 straight and never looked back. They had seven kills in the set, including one from senior setter and opposite outside Krystina Rabadi. That tally was more than their team total last week against Northwest Christian as Rabadi finished with a team-high six kills. 

“Our communication got better throughout the match today,” Rabadi said. “I know if we continue like this, we can win games. We trust each other more every game and my teammates played great today. We just have to keep trying.”

Bourgade blitzed through the third set in less than 15 minutes, 25-12. 

“It says a lot about our resiliency,” Rabadi said. “We lost a tough set there. It was close but we kept trusting that what we were doing was our best and we were able to get a [set] win.”

Bourgade took a quick advantage in the fourth set as well. They forced a Colts timeout with the Golden Eagles leading 15-11. 

“I thought we had a real chance to win that set,” Rabadi said “We kept playing really hard and were able to win some long points there.”

Out of the timeout, Cortez flew to a 6-0 run capped off by three straight errors by Bourgade and the Colts never relinquished the lead, sealing their first win of the season with a 25-21 fourth set.

“I’m really proud of them,” Ramos said. “We had some not great moments in the match but they were able to recover and I’m happy they can celebrate the win.”

Cortez will travel to Moon Valley High School on Wednesday, while Bourgade hosts Scottsdale Christian Thursday.