It wasn't an awe-inspiring display of volleyball, but Mesquite did well enough to push past the .500 mark for the season in power-ranking matches.

The Wildcats blitzed visiting Apache Junction in the first set on the way to a comfortable sweep of the Prospecters in a 4A non-region match. Scores were 25-10, 25-17, 25-15.

Mesquite improved to 3-2 in power-ranking matches with the victory Wednesday night. AJ dipped to 5-3. Mesquite's toil last week in the annual Westwood Tournament of Champions Invite wasn't a success in terms of wins and losses. The Wildcats got a healthy dose of 6A volleyball and the increased power-hitting that goes with it. All in the learning curve for coach Carlos Flys team in 2021.

"Our focus with this team is focus and energy," Flys said. "We're young and those areas need to develop as we go, rather than volleyball itself."

Players with the most varsity experience for Mesquite are senior Hailey Hanna, junior Ryleigh Vollmer and sophomore Ava Castro. Hanna leads the team in kills thus far and posted 10 in this match. Vollmer led the attack with 11 and junior Mahri Kaczmarek contributed eight with no errors. Castro had six digs and fellow sophomore Maddie Purdy had 26 assists and eight digs.

                                     Mesquite's Ryleigh Vollmer on the attack against Apache Junction's block attempt. (Azpreps365 photo).

Apache Junction had a three-game winning streak snapped, including its first region triumph in its first region contest vs. Combs. AJ visits Globe in a non-region match nexgt week. After that the rest of its schedule save one match is 4A Black Canyon Region affairs.