Mesa came out strong with senior Annie Hatch leading the way to Mesa winning the first set 25-16.

The second set brought even more energy to the gym.  Xavier came out on fire starting the match 5-1, forcing Mesa to call an early timeout.

The home crowd was really into the game, willing the Gators to win the second set.

Xavier won the second set 25-12. This tied up the game, 1-1.

Coach Lamar- Renee Bryant for the Gators emphasized how important it was for her team to serve-receive.

“It really comes down to serve-receive and serve game,” Bryant said. “When we serve-receive we have enough offensive weapons to really push teams on the other side.”

The Gators seemed to do just that going into the third set. Led by sophomore Serena Turner, who had 11 kills in the game, Xavier won the third set 25-14.

“If we can’t serve-receive we can’t do anything else,” said Mesa coach Amy Strawn.

Looking to make a final push, Mesa came out hot in the fourth set.

Xavier and Mesa exchanged leads, but the Gators finally pulled ahead with a run that made 13-9.

However, Mesa made things interesting with a little run of their own to make it 13-12.

After multiple defensive stops Xavier was able to take a commanding 21-14 lead.

Mesa’s Coach Strawn called one last timeout in an effort to encourage her team to come-back and push the game to five sets.

However, Xavier closed out the set, 25-15, for a four-set victory.

“It was a pretty good win for us,” Turner said. “We could’ve done a lot better. It wasn’t our strongest game yet.”