By Jacob Franklin

With a moderate crowd on hand, the Mountain Pointe Pride took down the visiting Sandra Day O’Connor Eagles Wednesday in straight sets, 28-26, 25-21, 25-17.

“One of our worries was that O’Connor played last night,” Mountain Pointe head coach Karen Gray said. “I thought we played well for our first match. They all played well together.”

The connection between junior setter Gabby Leo and the rest of Mountain Pointe’s offense was strong.

Leo notched 34 assists in the match.

                                           (Mountain Pointe's Gabby Leo. Photo by Jacob Franklin/azpreps365.com)

“We have some really good middles, and we were trying to run a fast offense. She (Leo) does a great job getting them the ball,” Gray said.

Leading the way for the Pride on the attack was senior outside hitter Chapin Gray, who found the floor for 11 kills. She was helped by sophomore middle blocker Piper Manross, who added 10 kills.

The start to the match was tight, as the Pride got off to a hot start attacking but made several mental mistakes, allowing the Eagles to grab a 10-9 lead.

The set would stay tight, and after Eagle sophomore middle blocker Kailey Trapp stuffed one back for a block, the Pride were forced to call a timeout as they saw their lead diminish to 17-16.

However, the balanced attack of the Pride would help them take the contested first set. Leo was able to spread the ball well, as six players were able to tally a kill in the opening set.

The story in the second set did not deviate from the first as the match stayed tightly contested, with the teams trading runs back and forth and tying at 10, 11 and 12.

The Pride were able to grab a small advantage of 15-13 behind the strong hitting of Manross, who had nine kills in the match to this point. 

The Eagles did not go away, though. Senior setter Maddi Noble spread the ball well to keep the score close, with junior outside hitter Kelli Agnew and senior outside hitter Megan McCall giving the Eagles a lead.

“She’s (Noble) done a great job for us,” O’Connor’s head coach Kyle Brainard said. “She did a good job trying to run the offense that we worked on, especially after having a game last night.”

Noble finished the match with 28 assists, and McCall and Agnew would finish with 11 and nine kills, respectively.

O’Connor didn't maintain that lead with Manross and sophomore opposite Avery Luoma leading a strong Pride push, as they took the second set. 

“My setter was setting me great balls, and we had awesome passes,” Manross said. “It was just going well.”

Mountain Pointe came out firing in the third set taking an early 11-6 lead behind strong serving from Gray. 

Manross added two blocks to extend the pride lead to 14-7, forcing the Eagles into a timeout.

O’Connor tried to make a stand, getting the deficit down to five (17-12), but Mountain Pointe rattled off three straight points to kill O’Connor’s momentum.

The Pride went on to take the third set to finish the sweep.

Next up for 1-0 Mountain Pointe is Horizon Thursday night, and on Tuesday Sandra Day O’Connor (0-2) takes on Westview.

Jacob Franklin is a sports journalism studet at Arizona State University.