Mihir Sinhasan is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Sunrise Mountain High School for AZPreps365.com

The No. 4 Sunrise Mountain Mustangs swept the No. 17 Ironwood Eagles at home 25-12, 25-22, 25-12 Wednesday evening in a clash between the top two teams in the 5A Northwest region.

With the victory, the Mustangs remain unbeaten in region play, and pick up their second win over Ironwood this season.

“It builds their confidence, 100 percent,” Sunrise Mountain head coach Brandi Jans said on the win. “I feel like coming in after a big weekend at the Nike Tournament [of Champions], and having such a good success there, I think it really turned another page in our game and it's just taking them up. Every day, we get better and better and better.”

Sunrise Mountain celebrated “Dig Pink” night in honor of breast cancer awareness. This included pink balloons hanging along the bench and pink streamers covering the entrances to the gym. Before first serve, the players, wearing pink uniforms, gave flowers to breast cancer survivors who were in the stands.

The start of the match went in favor of the Mustangs, who burst out to a 7-1 lead. That momentum carried throughout the set. After Ironwood had a 5-1 run, Sunrise Mountain responded with a 4-0 run to take the first set 25-12.

Sophomore outside hitter – and birthday girl – Addison Wiemann led the way at the net to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead in the match. She had six kills in the first set en route to a double-digit kill performance.

“I especially give a shout out to our [sophomore] setter Lily [Rolfes]," Wiemann said. "Ever since she was hurt and came back, she's been really good at placing the ball and finding her hitters. And I think we're connected really well, so that's a big part of it."

The second set started out the same as the first, with Sunrise Mountain sprinting to an 8-0 lead. However, Ironwood responded with a 7-1 run to trail 15-14, causing the Mustangs to call a timeout.

Nonetheless, Sunrise Mountain maintained the lead, winning 25-22 off a kill from senior outside hitter Emily Pruitt. Pruitt, who came into the match ranked 10th in kills amongst 5A players, had eight in the second set. The University of Colorado-Colorado Springs commit reached a double-digit kill total for the 13th time this season.

”It’s definitely a good feeling, especially when I have my teammates supporting me all the time,” Pruitt said, on reaching double digits in kills. “No matter if I make a mistake or not, I always get that support from them and my coaches. So, it’s just a good feeling to have.”

The third set started out evenly matched, until the Mustangs opened the lead on a 7-0 run, which included three consecutive aces from senior middle hitter Brooke Barrois to make the score 13-6. The two sides traded points once again, until Sunrise Mountain pulled an 8-2 run to take the set 25-12 and win the match.

“We were making errors that we normally don't make,” Ironwood head coach Lisa Lopez said. “Sunrise [Mountain] is a great program, so they definitely capitalized on those errors we were making."

The Mustangs (16-3 overall, 7-0 in 5A Northwest) look to keep up their in-region unbeaten streak alive when they host No. 40 Apollo on Thursday at 6 p.m. while the Eagles (12-8 overall, 6-2 in 5A Northwest) look to get back in the win column at the Rise N’ Roar Classic on Friday, October 13, where they will face Liberty, Perry and Verrado.