Mountain Pointe setter Gabby Leo is all smiles after helping the Pride pas Horizon. (Photo by AzPreps365)

 

When two of your key players returning are each 5-foot-6, it doesn't instill a lot of fear into the opposition in volleyball.

An exception has to be Mountain Pointe setter Gabby Leo and libero Anna Morse. The senior duo was all over the court as usual Thursday night helping the Pride turn back Horizon in three sets, 25-20, 25-19, 25-19 in a 6A match at Mountain Pointe.

Mountain Pointe, last year's 6A runner-up to Corona del Sol, notched its third win in four days (Central and Sandra Day O'Connor were the others) in this opening week of the regular season. Mountain Pointe will play more Friday and Saturday at the Goldwater Festival on the west side this weekend. The Pride has momentum and an impressive start in what looks to be a reloading -- not rebuilding - season.

"I'm glad I have them this year," Mountain Pointe coach Karen Gray said. "I don't know what  I'll do next year. They are crazy good at what they do. Horizon is always tough, and we had to work for this one."

There wasn't much missing from Mountain Pointe's game. The defense -- actually on both sides -- was fantastic with a number of very long volleys. Morse , a Villanova commit, came up with 33 digs, fellow senior Brianna Lopez added 17 and Leo (Pacific commit) chipped in with 14. 

Leo's superb setting (38 assists unofficially) led to a trio of double-digit attackers for Mountain Pointe. Junior Piper Manross, who moved to outside from middle last year, led with 16 kills. Junior opposite Avery Luoma had 13 kills and freshman Jahara Campbell looked quite comfortable racking up 12 kills.

Mountain Pointe trailed most of the first set. The Pride didn't take its first lead until the 20-point mark and scored six of its final eight points with Morse serving. Mountain Pointe led  nearly all of the secod and third sets, but Horizon put pressure on late in both sets before falling.

Horizon fell to 0-2 with its other loss coming Tuesday to guess who -- last year's 6A champ Corona del Sol. The Aztecs have plenty of firepower back to make a run at a repeat.

"We haven't won a set yet, but we've hung in all of them (six)," Horizon coach Valorie McKenzie said, whose Huskies lost i25-21, 25-20, 26-24 to Corona. "We didn't have our second middle all week, and that didn't help.

"But I was proud of how we played defense and kept plugging. Mountain Pointe is so good defensively and has a couple really good wings. I told the girls we've played pretty well against two very good teams. I don't want them to be discouraged."

Horizon was led by senior middle Karen Scanlon, a recent Tennessee-Martin commit. Scanlon collected 13 kills, 13 digs and five blocks. Sophomore Jozlyn Byers checked in with seven kills and 12 digs and setter Claire Smith had 24 assists.