When Gilbert stepped onto  Mesa High's court a couple weeks ago, Gilbert boys volleyball coach Jeff Grover said he felt his team had the mindset they were better than they were. The result that evening was a 3-0 sweep for Mesa.

A little humble after that loss, Gilbert has played better and more focused. The proof Thursday night was a 25-18, 29-27, 15-25, 25-23 triumph for the defending state champs over the Jackrabbits on the Tigers' home floor.

"We got jumped at their place and they played very well," Grover said. "Matches like these are fun. We've practiced better and made some changes. It's a different team. I couldn't be happier with this win."

Mesa suffered its first power-ranking loss of the season to go to 8-1 in those games. The Jackrabbits are 20-9 overall. Mesa struggled the first set plus and didn't start hitting its stride until the second set. Still, Gilbert was able to win the first set handily and take the tight second set, rallying from 22-19 down. The Tigers also staved off two set points and Mesa escaped three.

"I really like the way we finished game 2," Grover said.

That finish was courtesy of a balanced attack that setter Nick Rockwell presided over. Gilbert (18-3, 11-1 prg) got three kills from Jarrett Neal (11 kills), two from McKay Taylor (team-high 23 kills) and a set-ending block from Rockwell and Cameron Olsen (18 kills). Middle blocker Nic Giibson added 14 kills for the match. The verstatile Rockwell, who also sets, added four blocks

Mesa bounced back and thoroughly dominated the third set with JT Hatch (39 assists0 continuing to run the offense effectivley. Jake Jarvis and Michael Schaper, who led the Jackrabbits with 17 and 8 kills, respectively, became more accurate with their attacks. That carried over to the fourth set where Mesa led late in the set, 20-17. The Jackrabbits didn't make the plays in the final points, with a Gilbert block and a second late net violation dooming their chance to bring on a fifth set. Schaper added 15 digs on the defensive end.

"This was a quality loss," Mesa coach Tony Millanes said. "We had a lot of unforced errors early, but we played better, like we are capable later.I felt games two and four could have gone our way...

"It''s OK  to lose to a good team like that. Jeff's a good coach and made some adjustments. The atmosphere was great, too. It prepped us for what the playoffs will be like."