Brendan Belfield is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Maryvale for AZPreps365.com

The Maryvale Panthers (4-9) lost to the North Mustangs in four sets at home on Wednesday, the second time since Sept. 20 that North has defeated them.

North (8-5) played strong offensively (25-21, 13-25, 25-14, 25-19) and extended its win streak to seven games. 

Maryvale head coach Ashley Bodden is optimistic about her team's improvement thus far this season. After its starting on a six-game skid, the Mustangs are trying to continue keep the ball rolling as it's won four of its last seven matches. 

A recurring lapse for the Panthers is their lack of communication on the court and never built momentum.

“We’re not calling our hits, we’re not calling where the ball is,” Bodden said. “So we’ve been really trying to work on that, and it’s still a work in progress.”

This time around, the Panthers matched up better defensively, as the first game resulted in a sweep.

Despite treading a difficult path during her three years as the girls’ volleyball coach at Maryvale, Bodden believes that the team is getting better and expects a couple more victories this season. 

“We’re getting better,” Bodden said. “We’re seeing improvement a lot defensively, and we’re still working on that offense but we’ll keep pushing.”

Senior outside hitter Jennifer Morales-Solis sees the team chemistry starting to gel together and believes their Wednesday performance helped boost their confidence. 

“When we call the ball, we’re able to stay calm and we don’t get frustrated with each other,” Morales-Solis said. “When we’re not getting frustrated with each other and we don’t give up when we’re down, we play a lot better.”

The Panthers dominated third set and played great defensive ball. 

Their mid-game heroics owe lots of credit to senior setter America Zamaniego, who had a 33.5 kill percentage and six kills on the night.

“I have a good ability to lead,” Zamaniego said. “If I’m in a good mood, the whole team’s in a good mood.”

Zamaniego’s leadership shows on the court, was a key factor in the Panthers avoiding a second sweep against the Mustangs this year.

“We played north already,” Zamaniego said .“We practiced a lot of deep balls, because they play a lot deeper.”

This preparation led to Maryvale putting up a better fight than last time, and it could be enough of a boost for them to have a winning end to the season.

If the Panthers can continue to progress this year and achieve at least two more wins, they’ll have their most successful season since the 2016-17 season despite its 6-18 finish.

Maryvale Panthers look for their fifth win of the season against Alahambra at home on Oct. 18.