FLAGSTAFF — The second half of the Arizona high school volleyball season is upon us and No. 1-ranked Flagstaff seems to be the early favorite to hoist a 4A state championship trophy come November.

It’s been more than a decade since the Eagles have won a title after winning back-to-back crowns in 2012 and 2013 while in Division III.

With four wins already among the Top 10 clubs in power rankings, including No. 6 Thunderbird (3-1, Aug. 28), No. 4 Estrella Foothills (3-1, Sept. 4), No. 10 ALA-Queen Creek (3-0, Sept. 10) and No. 8 Prescott (3-0, Oct. 2), the Eagles are certainly flying high.

Throw in a mid-September 3-0 sweep over No. 15 Arcadia, which avenged a 3-1 loss to the same club that bounced Flagstaff out of the 4A state playoffs a bit early a season ago, and the expectations for this year’s club are just as high, if not higher.

“I think we’re super strong this year. We have a strong set of players. We have three people in the front row that can dominate, and terminate the ball. We have a strong chance of winning state this year,” senior outside hitter Sophia Krassner said, adding it’s a whole different team this fall.

“I think our team wasn’t that strong last year as it is this year. We have an older team than we did last year, so we’re ready to win,” said Krassner, who is second in kills with 72 on the year.

Flagstaff (18-1, 5-0 4A Grand Canyon) has lost only one match this season, a 2-1 defeat at the hands of 5A No. 4-ranked Centennial during a September tournament, and are a perfect 10-0 in power point games with seven to go.

“I think we are where I wanted us to be at in terms of ability wise. We’re playing well, we’re playing good ball,” longtime head coach Beth Haglin said. “We still have a lot of things we need to continue to work on to get better at. We have our region play now, and we’re not going to cruise through it, we’ll get challenges from Prescott, Bradshaw and some of the other teams.”

Haglin, who has led the Eagles for nearly 40 years during two different stints as coach, pointed to a potential lack of leadership last season as to why they didn’t peak they way they hoped, but this year the club seems to have clicked early on.

“Hopefully this year we learn that and we continue to work hard to be a solid unit out there,” Haglin said.

A big reason why the Eagles have been on fire lately is the return of junior Lilly Hartman, who left the program after her freshman year and moved to Wisconsin, but returned this past summer and now leads the club in kills (157) and aces (23) in 2024.

“She’s a great kid to have in our program, she works extremely hard. … We’re excited to have her for at least another year. But this year, she’s doing great, she works hard and hits the ball hard,” Haglin said. “She plays smart, and the girls can definitely use her to learn from.”

Already committed to Cal State-San Bernadino, Hartman believes if the team keeps encouraging each other and everyone keeps connecting, the sky is the limit.

“It’s gotten progressively so much better from even tryouts. All of our hitters are connecting with our setter, even our freshman setter has gotten a lot better. All of these connections are being made, it feels like a solid team,” Hartman said. “We have our moments, but it comes together fast.”

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on X at @AzPreps365Brian or on Facebook at @Five2MediaWorks. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.