Cody Marmon is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover San Tan Charter for AZPreps365.com

GILBERT -- San Tan Charter’s volleyball team improved its winning streak to nine games Wednesday night against a young Leading Edge Academy team. 

The Roadrunners (9-3, 4-1) won in four sets, 25-19, 25-13, 18-25, and 25-11.

The Roadrunners controlled the tempo of the first two sets with their speed and service game, building a lead as high as six in the first set, 23-17. 

“Our girls are trusting each other and communicating earlier,” San Tan Charter coach Nikki Revling said. “We're reacting instead of thinking so much.”

The Roadrunners combined for nine aces and 31 kills in the match.

San Tan Charter outside hitter Briannah Gibson had a strong performance, registering a team-high 12 kills and two aces. 

“We’re communicating really well. Our passing is crisp,” Gibson said. “We aren’t too focused on the winning streak, we’re focused on playing great volleyball. The wins will come when we prepare and communicate on the court,” 

Leading Edge Academy (4-8, 0-4) in the first set led 11-9 and was met by a potent ace and kill game from senior opposite hitter Allie Oswald, junior Gibson, senior middle blocker Tatum Sarver and freshman outside hitter Peyton Schwinden, extending the Roadrunners' lead to 16-11. 

Oswald had an ace to make it 22-17 and Gibson had a kill to extend the Roadrunners’ lead to 23-17. 

Sarver and Schwinden both finished with six kills. Sarver has 24 kills on the season. Schwinden has 21 kills. 

The Roadrunners had a commanding 12-3 lead in the second set that prompted Leading Edge Academy coach Joel Moyer to take a timeout. 

That didn’t stop the quick, high-flying offense of the Roadrunners by stretching their lead out to 23-8. The Spartans scored five unanswered points, but lost the set, 13-25.

The Spartans have five underclassmen in their starting lineup. But their inexperience didn’t stop them from taking a set against a top-two seed in the 2A Valley.

The Spartans built a 10-6 lead in the third set early on behind junior setter Amaya Downey’s three aces. The Spartans extended their lead 17-12 which forced a timeout.

“They kept their minds about them and continued to fight,” Moyar said. “We made surges at the end of a number of those games and that’s a good sign for us because we’re a very young team. We’ve started to make surges that we didn’t do at the beginning of the season.” 

The Roadrunners dropping the third set was due to fatigue after getting out to a commanding lead. 

“My girls admitted to me that they were tired,” Revling said. “We pride ourselves on playing through the toughness. I was checking on my girls where are we at physically, mentally, and emotionally right now?” 

There was a long rally to extend Leading Edge Academy’s lead to 21-13. 

Two net violations and seven aces combined by sophomore Haley Foster and Downey showcased the brightest part of the Spartans’ night during that third set.

For San Tan Charter to close out the fourth and final set they leaned on defensive specialist senior Agatha Caldito, who finished with nine digs. She now has 29 digs on the season. 

Revling thought her team set the tone for the fourth set.

“It looked like we were re-energized,” Revling said. “We were active guarding the net and overall had fresh legs.”

Leading Edge Academy will travel to San Carlos High School on Tuesday at 6 p.m., while San Tan Charter hosts Miami on Oct. 6 at 6 p.m.