There’s no place like home. 

Just ask Valley Christian’s girls volleyball team. 

Playing in its fourth straight 3A championship at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Valley Christian treated the historic arena like its own living room. The No. 2 seeded Trojans shook off the underdog status—and two regular-season losses to the same opponent—to knock off top-seeded Gilbert Christian 22-25, 25-13, 25-19, 25-18. 

“This arena feels like home for us,” Valley Christian setter Ansley Venkatesh said. "We’ve been here, done that. Honestly, it’s like our home gym for us now at this point. We had a calm confidence coming into the match, which helped us play our game and control the chaos on our side.”

After dropping the opening set, the Trojans flashed their trademark championship composure. 

Six seniors helped bring calm to the chaos also, capping their high school careers with a three-peat.

“The (2023 championship loss) left a bad taste,” Valley Christian coach Tyler Trathen said. “Going into this I looked at the seniors and told them, “This is your last shot. You want to three peat or runner-up? Here we go.”

Senior Sadie Wahlin answered the call. 

The 6-2 middle was a force, tallying 13 kills in 17 attempts (.706) while helping fuel her team with relentless energy. That combination helped her earn MVP honors.

Valley Christian’s Sadie Wahlin (No. 13) earned MVP honors in her final high school game. (Jose Garcia photo/AZPreps365) But Venkatesh (51 assists) had plenty of options to keep Gilbert Christian guessing. Sydney Simon (13 kills), Elyse Wolf (13 kills) and Faith Pape (14 kills) also finished in doubles figures in kills.  

“I told my captains, including my setter, I wanted the consistency,” Trathen said, "my lefty I wanted calm, and I wanted the swag to come out form Sadie, and that’s what she did today.”

Valley Christian is now tied with Thatcher and Northwest Christian for the third most state title volleyball appearances (13) after winning the program’s eighth volleyball crown. 

Gilbert Christian (36-5) swept region mate Valley Christian in their first meeting but needed five games to finally put away the Trojans during their second regular season match. Despite losing the first game in Saturday’s 3A title tilt, Valley Christian began to assert itself while leading 10-7 in the second game. That’s when it went on a 13-3 run to seize the momentum. 

The third game started with the teams trading points until Valley Christian went on a mini 4-0 run to break a 13-13 tie. Simon, a lefty, had a kill and an ace, Kaelin Walls had a block and Pape’s kill off two blockers during that run helped propel their team to the Game 3 victory. 

In the final game, there was no letdown on Valley Christian’s side while jumping out to a 7-2 lead. That stretch was highlighted by libero Kaydence Hirsch sprinting deep beyond the service line to track down an errant pass, allowing Simon to end the rally with a block. 

Every time Gilbert Christian tried to mount a run in the fourth set, Valley Christian had an answer—even after a mistake. On one broken play, Simon somehow sent a pinpoint bump pass all the way across the court. Pape then finished the job from the left pin, putting the Trojans ahead 19-13.   

Valley Christian, it seemed, could do no wrong en route to another ring. Gilbert Christian, making its first championship appearance, was led by beach star Lillie Duistman (14 kills), Ashlyn Kirby (11 kills) and Shay Loth (22 digs). 

Gilbert Christian reached a final for the first time. (Jose Garcia photo/AZPreps365) But Valley Christian (32-7) wasn’t about to surrender its home turf.  

"We worked so hard in practice,” Venkatesh said. "We just had the desire to win and fought so hard. We were not going to let it slip away."