Shelby Evans is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Cactus Shadows High School for AZPreps365

SCOTTSDALE – Arcadia swept Cactus Shadows Monday night, putting an end to the Falcons’ 10-match win streak. 

Titans junior Riley Rooney punched 13 kills, leading the team to their 25-18, 25-22, 25-20 victory.

This was the second contest of the season between the 4A Desert Sky regional teams. During their Sept. 15 match, Cactus Shadows staged a gritty come back from two sets down to get a five-set win.

Arcadia coach Adrian Chang said his team is starting to come together. They were focused on making this match better than their earlier season loss. 

“The big thing coming into this was playing with no fear,” Chang said, “going and taking the big swings and serving the tough seams.”

Three of Arcadia’s first four points of the match were kills from Rooney. The Titans served six aces throughout the match, including two from Rooney. 

“I was just really focusing on what was working, so I kept finding holes where people were,” Rooney said. “I was really looking at my court awareness and seeing what was open and what would help my team.”

In the first set, Cactus Shadows strained to keep a 7-5 lead. The Falcons scrambled to return a mid-rally ball, and Arcadia senior Trinity Thompson answered with a decisive blow. Her three consecutive kills guided the team into the lead, which they carried to win the set 25-18.

“We figured out a couple things in our first game that worked against them and so we tried to start that position-wise, and they just out played us tonight,” Cactus Shadows coach Jeff Dumbrell said. 

Down 14-22 in the second set, the Falcons went on a 4-0 run. Junior Sammy Ryan struck two kills to turn the momentum in their favor. 

When the Titans called a timeout to regroup, Dumbrell used the opportunity to petition to his own team.

“I was telling them to be in the right spots defensively, making sure that our block was set up at the right spot,” Dumbrell said. “When we do things correctly, when we are in the right spots, I think we do a very very good job of putting pressure on teams.”

Returning to play, the Falcons racked up another four-point run, their eight-point streak tied the second set at 22-22. 

It wasn’t enough to win the set as the Titans stayed dominant and finished out the second set, 25-22.

In the third set, the teams stayed neck-and-neck. Cactus Shadows senior Karease Broeker had four kills in the set by the time they were up 9-8. 

The Falcons defense couldn’t compete with the power of Arcadia. Match point had Boecker, an opposite hitter, digging to keep the ball in play. Ultimately, the point ended in Arcadia’s favor.

“Obviously, we’re frustrated,” Broeker said. “We did not play well. We did not play to the level that we could.” 

Arcadia (1-1, 3-3) plays at St. Mary’s (0-0, 3-3) on Wednesday at 6 p.m. 

Cactus Shadows(2-1, 8-0), hosts Saguaro (1-2, 3-4) on Wednesday at 6 p.m.