Fountain Hills volleyball coach Peter McGloin had plenty of excess energy Wednesday night after watching his team take over first place in their region with a sweep of Valley Christian.

McGloin was high-fiving and thanking everyone in sight, including almost everyone who populated the student section after the Falcons toppled 3A rival Valley Christian, 25-16, 25-21, 25-14 at Fountain Hills.

"We've been making a lot of progress since our first 12 or 13 matches," McGloin said. "The last 12 or 13 the effort is there and they are seeing the process. With each match we're taking a couple steps forward." Fountain Hills has won 11 of its last 14 matches and finished runner-up in the Wolves Classic two weeks ago to tournament host Desert Edge, a 5A opponent.

Fountain HIlls (18-8 overall, 3-0 in the 3A Metro Region) entered the week at No. 7 in the 3A power-rankings with Valley Christian a lofty No. 2. The Falcons were impressive in taking over the region lead, led by superb play from outside hitter KC McMahon and solid contributions all around from the rest of the team.

McMahon knocked down 16 kills in the sweep and hit an impressive .481. junior libero Paula Iwaoka  hadd 18 digs and setter Alyssa Barbagallo added 11 digs. Corrin Schulze (15 assists) and Barbagallo (13 assists) set up the offense. Outside hitter Courtney Dyer led Valley Christian (11-6, 2-1 region) with nine kills.

Fountain Hills was aggressive with its serve, piling up 11 aces from six different players. That serving also helped put Valley Christian out of system much of the match. Even when the Trojans were in system, their hitting was subpar. Fountain HIlls didn't do much damage on the attack in the first set, netting just four kills. Fountain Hills still claimed the first set with a finishing 12-3 run.

The second set was close with neither team enjoying more than a two-point advantage through the first 28 points. Fountain Hills pulled away briefly to a 19-14 edge, but Valley Christian rallied to take a 21-20 lead. Fountain Hills answered with a set-clinching 5-0 run. That took the steam out of the Trojans, who were never in the final set.

"Wasn't our night, not at all," Valley Christian coach Lisa Gross said. "We didn't show up tonight."

Gross and her team absorbed bad news earlier in the week when they learned junior outside hitter Cici Collins will miss a bunch more time going forward. Gross said Collins is likely done for the year with a broken ankle.

The Trojans have been without Collins the last couple weeks, but were optimistic they might get her back. Collins was second on the team in kills and digs this year when she went down and was second in kills and led in digs last year. They are 2-2 without her.

Both teams head to invitationals this weekend. Valley Christian is entered in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix and the East Valley while Fountain Hills will compete in Chandler Prep's 42-team invitational at Inspire Courts in Gilbert.