Eve McFarland is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Deer Valley High School for AZPreps365.com

The Deer Valley girl's volleyball team won in straight sets at home against the Barry Goldwater Bulldogs Wednesday night. 

The Skyhawks dominated offensively and worked as a team to end the match, 25-14, 25-19, 25-7.

“Everybody was doing their job, everybody was doing everything,” Skyhawks junior Izzy Darnell said. “It was really an amazing atmosphere.” 

Deer Valley (11-11) played in a neutral tournament last weekend and  finished with a record of 6-1. Coach Jackie Wallace said the team needed to put pressure on their opponents instead of themselves going into the matchup against the Bulldogs (5-2). 

“I think what I always tell them is to play Deer Valley volleyball,” Wallace said. “Play like we know how on our side and disrupt their side. That’s what we kind of tell them consistently is that we have to put the pressure on them and make them get out of their system.”

The Skyhawks found their momentum in the first set after senior Bella Figueroa scored three straight kills to help build a 13-8 lead. 

After the Bulldogs called  a timeout, the Skyhawks went on a 7-3 run as Figueroa got an ace to change the score to 21-11. Figueroa had nine kills and two aces.  

The Skyhaws ended the first set 25-14. 

Going into the second set, the Bulldogs came back fighting and kept up with the Skyhawks. Bulldogs senior Ayana McKnight had a block and kill to keep the score close at 8-7

Both teams rallied with each other and Bulldogs sophomore Rachael Ingram’s kill put the pressure on the Skyhawks to a 15-14 lead.

However, Skyhawks senior Lilah Clark exploded for a kill and block to make it 17-14. Clark had six kills and two aces. 

“We needed more communication, just being louder and celebrating all the little moments,” Wallace said. “To not take those for granted and to celebrate as much as we can.”

The Skyhawks controlled the rest of the second set,  25-19. 

Bulldogs coach Tamara Beck said they are a young team and showed that they could rally against the Skyhawks.

“Basically what I say a lot of the time is that ‘I got two arms, two legs, and a big fat head like you’ and it's just who is going to use it the best,” Beck said. “I believe in you, so you guys need to believe in yourselves and then they go out there and play.”

In the third set, the Skyhawks overpowered the Bulldogs. Figueroa and Darnell combined for five kills of 16-7 score. Darnell closed the match with six straight aces as  the Skyhawks took the set, 25-7. Darnell had 12 kills and nine aces. 

“No matter the score, no matter how we did in the past, it’s maximum energy, maximum effort, communication for absolutely everything,” Darnell said. “We need to just battle for every point and we are never going to give up.”

The Skyhawks play their first region game on Thursday at Cactus (7-5) at 6 p.m. 

Barry Goldwater will face Paradise Honors (17-8) at 6 p.m. Thursday.