Were first-round exits from the state tournament  the last two seasons what tipped the scales Tuesday night for No. 8 seed Mountain Pointe in its five-set match with No. 9 Basha?

Hard to know for sure. But Mountain Pointe senior outside hitter Brenna Wagner said it was prime motivation.

"We were so excited for that last game and wanted to win," Wagner said. "We needed to win. We hadn't won the last two years so it would have been disappointing to not advance again."

Wagner and her teammates were clearly the better team in the fifth and deciding set as the host Pride eliminated Basha, 25-19, 22-25, 14-25, 25-18, 15-6.

Mountain Pointe 23-8 moves on to Thursday's quarterfinals at 7 p.m. and visits No. 1 seed Mountain Ridge, a 3-1winner over No. 16 Pinnacle. Basha finished the year 22-10.

It was a topsy-turvy night for both teams. Mountain Pointe dominated the first set and most of the second. The Pride was up 20-17 in the second set and that's when the momentum shifted to Basha.

A mis-serve and two hitting errors by Mountain Pointe evened the score at 20. That run breathed some life in to Basha and they won the second set. The third set was all Basha with the racing to a 10-2 lead and an easy win. Visions of a third year in a row with a first round loss were becoming more vivid for Mountain Pointe.

"(Basha) aced us seven times in the third game, they blew us out," Mountain Pointe coach Fred Mann said. "......I'm proud of the girls. They got it together and battled back."

Mountain Pointe rallied from behind midway through the fourth game to win and force the fifth. The final game was all Mountain Pointe with Wagner (team-high 17 kills), contributing three kills, Kayla Meester and Lexie Nelson two each. Basha was within 5-3 after a block by McKayla Ferris, but surrendered seven straight points that sealed its fate. Meester, Chandler Hillman and Justine Ackie were effective serving. Each contributed three aces, two in the fifth set from Meester.

It was an abrupt end to the season for Basha coach Jim Kann and his squad. Seven of the Bears 10 losses happened in the final two weeks. Several against tough teams in the Nike Tournament of Champions plus two losses to Gilbert and one each to Hamilton and Corona del Sol.

Kann pointed to an extended volley in the fourth set that Mountain Pointe won to to take a 9-8 lead. He felt that had a lasting effect going forward.

"I think we had five opportunities during that volley to put it away," Kann said. "When you lose those, it's worth more than one point."

In the end it was momentum in Mountain Pointe's corner and better overall play.

"They passed it a little better, served it a little better," Kann said. "We got tentative offensively late in the match. They got  more confidence late, and then igame 5 got away."