Roberto Astorga is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mountain Ridge High School for AZPreps365.com.

Mountain Ridge returned to the win column after defeating Desert Valley region ival Sandra Day O’Connor, 8-1, on Tuesday. The Mountain Lions improved to a 10-2 record and the Eagles fell to 3-8. 

The Mountain Lions won all of their singles matchups, and two of its three doubles matchups. All but one of the singles matches ended in two sets.

“They played well,” Mountain Ridge head coach Adam Korman said. “Our girls had a game plan and they stuck to it. They got challenged by some of OC’s girls and they responded, so I am proud of them.”

One of Mountain Ridge's top players in the victory was their third ranked player in sophomore Bhavana Vinodh. She was the quickest player to finish her match, winning her first two sets by more than 10 points. 

“I felt pretty confident. Overall as a team, we’ve seen their record and played them before, adding confidence that helped me even more,” Vinodh said.

Mountain Ridge's first-ranked player and senior captain Lilah Zafar started her match against junior Brynlee Evanson trading points. Then after the break of 11 points, Zafar quickly won her first set. That momentum then continued to her second set and won the match. 

“Sometimes for me, it takes a couple of points for me to get going,” said Zafar. “Our school has never lost to O’Connor so it was really important that we kept that. Our hard work has paid off.”

For SDOC, doubles teammates Evanson and junior Charleigh Schuettler had the sole victory for their team. They won their match in three sets in a competitive game against Mountain Ridge’s first doubles teammates. 

SDOC falls to 0-2 in the division from this loss. They are currently tied for last in region, but with three divisional games left, they can still rally to leave the bottom of the standings. They will play regional leader Sunnyslope, and Liberty and Boulder Creek, two teams that also haven't had a regional win. 

With this victory, Mountain Ridge remains in contention for the region title, and now stand at 2-1 in the Desert Valley. With a state tournament berth likely already guaranteed, this win improves the Mountain Lions’ seeding in the state tournament.

Mountain Ridge's last two regional play are against Boulder Creek and Liberty. With a record better than both of those schools, Mountain Ridge wants to carry their momentum into these last two games and end the regular season on a high note.