The first of back-to-back matches for Gilbert's girls volleyball team with 5A San Tan Region rival Campo Verde couldn't have turned out better for the Tigers.

After a so-so performance - albeit a sweep of Williams Field on Tuesday night - No. 11 Gilbert took its game to a level more to the liking of coach Joe Hesse as the Tigers swept defending region champ and No. 8 Campo Verde out of the The Jungle. Scores were 25-20, 25-11 and 25-16. The loss snapped a 19-game region winning streak by Campo Verde dating back to 2017.

Gilbert (28-10 overall and 6-0 region) maintained and added to its lead in the region with the victory. Campo Verde (12-22, 4-1) fell into a tie for second in the region with Higley, who the Coyotes host on Thursday. Then Campo hosts Gilbert in the Tigers' next match Tuesday Oct. 22 with first place or possibly a share of it up for grabs.

"We won Tuesday, but we didn't play that well,' Hesse said. "Tonight was a different story. We had a plan to focus on their middle (Addison Haluska), and I think we did a good job there. We were in system pretty well the whole match."

Other than a 4-0 deficit in the opening set, Gilbert was in control. The Tigers served five aces that helped pave their rally from the slow start in the first set. It was smooth sailing from there.

Gilbert  had plenty of offense and it came from a variety of sources. Sophomore outside hitter Naia Stewart led with 17 kills and junior outside Madison Cadden and senior middle Elizabeth Toiaivao were complementary with nine kills apiece. Junior setter Lyndsee Baxter contributed 36 assists and freshman libero Kenzie Schoenhardt collected a team-high 12 digs. Gilbert served 11 aces - four from Schoenhardt and three from Brooke Hesse.

Campo Verde, which reached the 5A semifinals last year before bowing out to eventual state champ Millennium, has a much younger squad on the floor. Coach Tayler Bader has taken a patient approach and used tournaments to get much needed experience. The Coyotes residence in the top-10 of the 5A power rankings shows they've won the bulk of matches that matter (7-4 power-ranking record). Forget they are 10 games under .500 overall.

"We're giving a great effort and sometimes the result isn't there," Bader said. "They had a great plan and outplayed us. We'll try to tweak some things and play better next week when we meet again."

Haluska finished with five kills unofficially for Campo Verde, with the the bulk of its attack falling to Taylor Van Winkle, Gillian Bachali and Brooke Boyko. The latter two are freshmen and Haluska a sophomore illustrating the youth of the Coyotes in 2019.