Ritisha Thakker is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Maryvale High School for AZPreps365.com

The Maryvale girl’s volleyball team was looking to finally clinch its third win of the season after six back-to-back losses, going into Thursday night’s match against the Cibola Raiders.

Since both teams began the game with similar rankings on the season, with Maryvale ranked 239 according to the Arizona rankings, and Cibola sitting at 242, it was anyone’s match to take, and it turned out to be a five-set nail-biter.

The match began with an overwhelmingly powerful offense from Cibola with senior Mariana Vega leading the game in kills from the outside. This power from Vega allowed the Raiders to take the first set 25-15, but not without a fight from Maryvale’s defenders.

Vega, who has 53 kills on the season, helped Cibola dominate in the first set. 

Cibola Head Coach Shaylinn Mays praised Vega and her leadership on the court, but also offered some insight on Vega’s overall performance in the match, despite her aggressive offense.

“She's one of my captains and she stepped up for me. Although today she wasn't at her peak, she still really stepped up and showed out for her team,” Mays said.

While the first set went to Cibola, the second set had a different outcome, with Maryvale capitalizing on its defense as well as serves.

The second set was close at the beginning but was soon dominated by Maryvale when senior middle Nancy Gonzalez stepped up to the serving line. When Gonzalez finished her rain of aces on the Raiders, helping the Panthers get their most aces in a single game this season with 25, the score of the second set was 25-15 Maryvale and the match was tied.

“Our energy was way better than our previous six games and we had a lot more confidence. This is probably the largest amount of aces I've gotten in a game and it feels good,” Gonzalez said.

The third set began the same way as the previous one ended, this time with Maryvale senior setter Noelia Meraz adding a few aces to run up the scoring early on. 

While the Panthers were initially leading the third set, the Raiders quickly caught up by reducing their unforced errors and allowing Maryvale to make mistakes on its end.

Afterward, Maryvale Head Coach Ashley Bodden said her team needs to limit its errors.

 “We still need to work on our serve receive. We are still struggling on that and hopefully we'll be able to improve and be a bit more cohesive,” Bodden said.

Although the third set eventually went to Cibola, Maryvale clinched the match by winning the final two sets, capitalizing on scrappy defense, as well as limiting unforced errors.

Maryvale finally ended its losing streak. The win not only helped Maryvale’s conference record, but also boosted the players' confidence for the rest of their season.

“We needed to win back our confidence,” senior setter and team captain Noelia Meraz said. “I told everybody in the last set that we needed to be the first to five, first to 10, first to 15 and honestly, I think it worked. We started to bring our strengths together. If we continue to push as hard as we did today, I think we can do really well the rest of the season.”

Maryvale’s next match will take place at 6 p.m. Oct. 15 at home against Camelback, after the school has its fall break this week.