Jack Janes is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism graduate student assigned to cover Chandler for AZPreps365.com.

It was a tale of two sets for Chandler on Saturday in their final game of the Battle of the Realm Girls Volleyball Tournament at Arizona College Prep, losing a close game in set one, 26-24, and  then getting dominated, 25-11, by Canyon Del Oro.

“We just are mentally not tough enough,” Chandler coach Tracey Rodarte said. “When we lose in the first set, we just can't come out for the second set.”

The Wolves’ mental toughness was challenged right away when the Dorado took an early 7-2 lead in the first set. Four straight points rattled off by the Wolves put them back into the game, but the Dorado answered with four straight points of their own to take an 11-6 lead.

Chandler then went on a 10-5 run to tie the game at 16-16, with four of the five Canyon Del Oro points being errors by Chandler. The Wolves could not outplay their mistakes and Canyon Del Oro scored five consecutive points, with three of them being errors by Chandler.

Staring at a 21-16 deficit, Chandler stormed back and went on a 7-1 run that featured back-to-back aces by junior setter Brooke Mehlberg to take a 23-22 lead. Chandler could not hold onto the momentum and Canyon Del Oro used a 4-1 run to close out set one, 26-24. Three of four points in that run were Chandler errors.

“I think it's just simple mistakes that we make on the court and it's going right over our heads,” senior middle blocker Jaeda Bonwell said.

Yet again, the Wolves found themselves in a hole early when the Dorado jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second set, with four of the first five points being aces by senior Alex Jacome. The Dorado as a team got 12 aces in the match, with five of them coming from Jacome and four of them from senior Macy Whatton, who also had four kills.

“In terms of serving, just going after them with the deep serves and forcing their setters to try to set a ball that's coming over the shoulder is kind of key for us in terms of attacking teams,” Canyon Del Oro coach Jose Robles said.

This time though, Chandler did not have an answer for Canyon Del Oro. Their biggest run of the set was three points, but the set was still out of reach at 22-11. Canyon Del Oro then got three straight points as well to end the set and complete the sweep to eliminate Chandler from the tournament.

Chandler (0-9, 0-1) travels to Basha (4-6, 3-5) on Monday at 6 p.m.

Canyon Del Oro (8-2, 6-1) will host Catalina Foothills (4-6, 4-3) on Oct. 15 at 6 p.m.