ALA Gilbert North Sweeps Desert Sunrise to Snap Two-Match Skid

ALA Gilbert North returned to the win column Monday night, sweeping Desert Sunrise 3-0 in a 4A East Sky girls varsity volleyball matchup at Desert Sunrise High School.

The Eagles entered the night looking to bounce back after dropping their previous two matches, and they established control early. ALA Gilbert North took the opening set 25-13 to grab a 1-0 advantage.

ALA Gilbert North continued its strong play in the second set. The Eagles again held Desert Sunrise to 13 points, winning 25-13 and moving within one set of completing the sweep.

Desert Sunrise responded with its strongest performance of the night in the third set. After being held to 13 points in each of the first two sets, the Golden Hawks pushed ALA Gilbert North in a much tighter battle.

The Eagles ultimately closed out the match with a 25-22 victory in the third set, completing the 3-0 sweep.

Following the match, ALA Gilbert North head coach Paris McFall pointed to her young team's ability to apply what it had been working on in practice after lessons learned during its first two region matches.

“There’s been a lot of things that have been exposed over our first two region games,” McFall said. “With our girls being as young of a team as we are at points, with the lineup that we have on the court, it’s just learning how to grow through those moments.”

McFall emphasized the importance of her players understanding what they need to accomplish on their side of the net and limiting mistakes.

“When we do those things, and we limit our errors, we’re a scary team,” McFall said.

The coach also praised the Eagles' attacking and execution of the smaller details throughout the match. Moving forward, McFall said the focus in practice will be continuing to build on those areas and eliminating the stretches that have hurt the team in previous matches.

For ALA Gilbert North, Monday's sweep provided an immediate response to its previous two losses. The Eagles controlled the first two sets before answering Desert Sunrise's third-set challenge to finish the night with a 25-13, 25-13, 25-22 victory.