After being defeated by Phoenix Carl Hayden on Tuesday, Laveen Cesar Chavez faced an even tougher competitor at home Thursday night, Mesa Westwood.

The Champions fell in three games to visiting Westwood.

“We really tried to prepare, we knew they were going to have good hitters, we knew they were going to have great sets, so that’s what we tried to work on,” Cesar Chavez head coach Ashley Mitchell said.

The Warriors started out the match with an ace by senior April Tingey and the Champions answered back with a spike by Dominique Gadsden.

The Warriors came out very calm and seemingly motivated. The Champions called their second timeout in the first set down 19-3.

It was a very cheerful and quick first set for Westwood with the final score of that set being 25-6.

In the beginning of the second set Cesar Chavez came out a little stronger. The Champions dived for more balls.

The Champions called their first timeout of the set with the score 8-2 Warriors. The Warriors came back even harder after the timeout getting kill after kill with no Cesar Chavez blocker in sight.

Once the game was 12-4 the Champions then called another timeout. The game continued to be dominated by the Warriors despite head coach Ashley Mitchell’s many substitutions.

Towards the middle of the set things took off for the Warriors with a huge block by sophomore Tianna Hartzog making the score 18-12. The Warriors continued to play a very calm and dominating game and won 25-14 to go up 2-0.

It was a much improved set for the Champions however, with eight more points in this set than the first.

The third set was to be more of a battle between the two teams. Cesar Chavez came out very strong and wanted to fight hard for a win.

But the Champions could not stop the Warriors from blocking their hits. Jaidyn Brinkerhoff had a smashing third set with four kills.

Once the game was 16-10 Westwood, the Champions rallied and the points went back and forth.

Katrina Madero had an ace that cut the Warriors lead to three, 17-14. Gadsden followed with a massive spike making the score 22-15.

Cesar Chavez totaled 21 points in the final set but lost it by four.

Westwood junior Macy Tingey played well. She served 30 times and only had one error.  

“I felt pretty confident in our team, I knew that we could pull it together and take the win,” Macy Tingey said.

“I feel like we came in pretty confident and we’ve been working hard at practice, and we’ve been learning new plays… so we were excited to come out and win,” April Tingey said.

The Champions will face off against Camelback on Tuesday, Sept. 5 at Camelback. The Warriors will face off against Chandler in a home game.