Timothy Seale is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover ALA Mesa-North for AZPreps365.com

SCOTTSDALE — Coming off a 3-0 sweep against Tempe Prep on Sep. 30, ALA-Mesa North traveled to Scottsdale Prep looking to prove themselves. Instead, the Spartans snuck up behind the Mavericks on Tuesday before they had time to react. 

In the first two sets, ALA-Mesa North was neck and neck with Scottsdale, with no more than five points separating the two teams. The Mavericks had every chance to take control of the game, but in the third set, 11 errors gave the Spartans the win in three sets, 25-23, 25-17, 25-10. 

“We couldn’t hit the ball in the court,” ALA Mesa-North assistant coach John Palmer said. “If half of those would have converted to points on our side, then we would have a different outcome.”

After three straight points were scored in the second set, a downhill momentum followed ALA-Mesa North (11-16, 1-1 2A Central Region) into the third. 

Scottsdale (20-7, 0-1) would score seven points in only two minutes and forced head coach Lindsey Palmer to call a timeout to try to calm her team down. 

“Everyone take a deep breath,” Palmer told her players. “Relax and play your position.”

The Spartans showed no mercy, and those words of encouragement didn’t do much for the Mavericks' performance, as the previous five-point difference turned into 16 points later in the set. 

Scottsdale head coach Dan Chen said learning from the mistakes is what gave his team the advantage later in the game. 

“They’re a good team, but we came out, and we cut down on our errors, especially that third set, and that helped us a lot,” Chen said.

In addition to errors from ALA-Mesa North, Chen said the team capitalized on defense the same way they executed on offense. 

“We have a strong defense,” Chen said. “As long as we do that and play our defense, we can usually pick up some balls.”

Although the Mavericks struggled in the final set, they took the lead one of two times the entire match. One of which was in the second set, thanks to junior outside hitter Zuri Blood.

Blood gave the Mavericks the lead 9-8 after a stylish kill and would end the match with seven kills and one block. 

“It’s more mental than anything,” Palmer said. “The girls are physically all able to do whatever.  It’s mentally executing that.”

ALA-Mesa North’s junior outside hitter Elsie Palmer and freshman middle blocker Jillian Conatser were also dominant figures for the Mavericks. 

Both contributed on both sides of the net, with Palmer adding seven kills and four blocks and Conatser adding three blocks in the match. 

The loss was a learning experience. Palmer said communication and defense were the pieces they were missing, and they hope to focus on that in the coming weeks. 

“There were a lot of balls just dropping,” Palmer said. “We’re going to work a lot on defense and communication.” 

Those changes will have to be quick because the Mavericks have their next game at home in just two days. They will be taking on the No. 1 team in the Central Region, Chandler Prep, at 7 p.m. Oct. 8.