It’s always hard to beat the same team three times in a season. Especially when that opponent is considered to be the best chance for anyone to knock off Xavier College Prep.

But for the third time this season, the Gators swept Corona del Sol. This time in the 6A championship, capping one of the most dominant seasons in Arizona volleyball history with game scores of 25-21, 25-21, 25-17.

“I’m just happy we got the win. Just happy for the team, happy for the seniors, and for the whole program,” said head coach Lamar-Renee Bryant.

Ranked fourth in the nation by MaxPreps heading into the championship at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Xavier looked to finish what it started in the preseason – going wire-to-wire as the best squad in the state. And the first game started off well with 15 kills and four service aces. But four service errors and three Aztec aces kept it close.

But like many times before, Xavier Prep closed it out for the 1-0 lead.

“We started a little shaky,” Bryant said. “The nerves go to us a little bit. And we kind of didn’t play our game. But we settled in and kept them out of system.”

CDS started to find some success in the second game with deep attacks. Senior outside hitter Paige Nenaber paced the offense with her second straight game with four kills, while middle blockers Hyden Conner and Mikaela Lee-Tsosie combined for nine more. But the Gators could not be stopped up front. With 15 kills and only two errors, they controlled the offensive side of things.

“They weren’t bouncing balls. We just had to get our feet to the balls and react,” Bryant noted. “It’s a big gym. It’s big lights. So we got a little stuck in the mud. But we knew we could do it. We’ve been battled tested so we just kind of pushed through.”

Junior outside hitter Tessa Larkin had a game-high six kills and sophomore middle Amari Frazier added four.

Larkin added, “In the timeout in set two, we’re all just like ‘we want to make this our set. This set is going to be the best volleyball we’re playing.’ That was our goal and that was our mindset. We tried our hardest to work on all of that.”

Larkin tacked on to that total in the third frame. She had 10 kills, two of which went off Corona del Sol back row players’ attempted digs and backwards out of play. The Aztecs showed tons of emotion, which helped them keep the score close until the end.

The match was filled with short rallies and great placement on many of the attacks. But it was the Gators’ offense that was too much for the Aztecs, just as it had been twice previously this season.

Larkin led all attackers with 20 kills on the night. Freshman outside hitter Sahmone Wadsworth added 10. Nenaber paced Corona del Sol with 10 kills. Nine aces for the Gators helped matters as well.

“Honestly, I knew we were going to be really good. You can’t really expect to win state. That’s a really hard thing to do back-to-back,” added Larkin. “I’m grateful to do it with this group. The seniors were amazing. It’s super fun to make their last year memorable.”

Including tournaments, XCP finished the season 35-2 with the only defeats coming to a pair of California powerhouses back in September…the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the country.