State Finals Preview

We have reached the end of the Arizona high school volleyball season! Tomorrow we will be seeing 5 state champions crowned at the Madhouse on McDowell. If you are free tomorrow I would highly recommend that you come and attend at least some of the matches. Some of the best AZ has to offer will be playing for the championship!   6A Finals   How they got here:   Xavier has breezed its way through the AIA AZ season here. They have been ranked #1 all season by PrepDig and the AIA power rankings. They were undefeated all season in power point games and have swept each opponent in the playoffs so far. Corona Del Sol has been #2 most of the season in powerpoints and have also swept each of their playoff opponents so far to get to the finals. These two teams also played earlier this year as they are from the same region, with Xavier taking both matches 3-0.   Key players to watch:   [player_tooltip player_id='774402' first='Tessa' last='Larkin'] -OH - Xaiver   [player_tooltip player_id='502333' first='Hayden' last='Conner'] - Middle Blocker- Corona Del Sol   [player_tooltip player_id='544566' first='Vivian' last='Hickman'] - Setter - Xavier    [player_tooltip player_id='448314' first='Erin' last='Clark'] - Libero - Corona Del Sol   Prediction:   It is tough to beat a team 3 times, and with a full starting line up of current D1 commits or future D1 commits it is tough to play against Xaiver in this match. Corona Del Sol is on a roll and has the talent to hang with Xaiver but will need to have some top tier games from [player_tooltip player_id='502333' first='Hayden' last='Conner'] and [player_tooltip player_id='448314' first='Erin' last='Clark']. If Corona can get top level play from those two, and some support from a few others they could make a run in this game. Xavier is just loaded top to bottom and has the best player in the state in [player_tooltip player_id='774402' first='Tessa' last='Larkin']. We see this match being closer over the 1st two meetings but Xaiver should finish it out.   Marissa: Xavier    Anthony: Xavier    5A Finals   How they got here: Both these teams have long awaited for a chance at the 5A title. Both these teams have come close in the past but always seems to get bested by Horizon the last 4 years. However, Sunrise Mountain took them down in the semifinals and in convincing fashion by a score of 3-0. They have swept each opponent so far this playoff season and finished the season as the #2 team in powerpoints. Chaparral has taken a similar approach this postseason, sweeping each of their opponents by a score of 3-0. They also finished 16-1 in powerpoints but managed to grab the number 1 ranking. These two have been top two all season and we are excited to see who comes out on top.    Key players to watch:   [player_tooltip player_id='874777' first='Clara' last='Schramm'] - OPP - Chaparral   [player_tooltip player_id='874782' first='Claire' last='McNeal'] - OH - Chaparral   [player_tooltip player_id='536786' first='Brooklyn' last='Jenkins'] - OH - Sunrise Mountain   [player_tooltip player_id='544378' first='Addison' last='Wiemann'] - OH - Sunrise Mountain    Prediction:   This might be one of the better state finals we get tomorrow! These two did not meet in the regular season and both these teams have multiple superstars and top 25 talent in our rankings. For Sunrise Mountain and Chaparral we know their top players are going to come out and show up, the real question is which supporting cast will provide the best relief to their top players. In this match up it will come down to who can apply the right serving pressure to keep the other out of system. Both teams in system are absolutely deadly, but you don't want to just give away free points on missed serves. The winning team in this match up will be the one who can apply the most pressure from the service line. The prepdig team is split on who will win this one!     Marissa: Sunrise Mountain   Anthony: Chaparral    4A Finals   How they got here:   Salpointe finished as the number 1 overall seed in 4A this year, and did so by finishing with a 16-1 record. They have swept through each of their opponents in the playoffs so far and have made it look easy. They are on a roll and seem to be an unstoppable force at the moment. ALA QC finished as the number 3 seeds in powerpoints and pulled off the mini upset of Ironwood Ridge in the semi finals. They did so in dramatic fashion by heading down to Tucson to win in 5. Now they will have to take down another southern AZ juggerrant in Salpointe in the finals.    Key players to watch:   [player_tooltip player_id='877469' first='Natalie' last='Mobley'] - Pin - Salpointe   Natalia Solomon - Middle - Salpointe   [player_tooltip player_id='807263' first='Sara' last='Bowcutt'] - OH - ALA QC   [player_tooltip player_id='877459' first='Tatum' last='Riggs'] - OH - ALA QC   Prediction:   A lot can be said by having a ton of senior talent and leadership in this game. Salpointe has almost a full starting lineup of seniors, and seniors who have played in this type of match before. ALA QC might not have played in this high leverage type of match before but they don't lack in the talent area of this. This is also a rematch from earlier this season where Salpointe won 3-0. ALA QC will need a big day from their two pin hitters to keep it close or get some help from their role players. If Salpointe can keep their defense guessing by being able to spread the ball around to their multiple options and keep ALA QC out of system; it will make it tough on ALA to pull out the W. If ALA can stay in system and play solid defense they could pull off the upset. The prepdig writers are also split on this match up.    Marissa: ALA QC   Anthony: Salpointe   3A Finals   How they got here:    The 3A semifinals was one to watch yesterday! Both these teams had to endure some of the toughest semifinals we have had to see to get to this point. Valley Christian had a great regular season going 17-0 and being the number 1 overall seed. Northwest Christian went 15-2 and finished the season as the number 2 overall seed. Both these teams had 5 setters in the semi finals and this will be a rematch from the regular season. In the regular season Valley Christian got the better of Northwest Christian by a final of 3-0   Key players to watch:   [player_tooltip player_id='807441' first='Sydney' last='Simon'] - Pin - VC   [player_tooltip player_id='784641' first='Sadie' last='Wahlin'] - Middle Blocker - VC   [player_tooltip player_id='822954' first='Cadence' last='Roberts'] - OH- NWC   [player_tooltip player_id='874847' first='Tatum' last='Naber'] - S - NWC   Prediction:   The big thing for Northwest Christian is being able to trade some points in this game to hang around. In their first meeting this year Valley Christian had 10 aces in the 3 sets plus held Northwest to under .100 hitting percentage. On the other side of that coin you had Valley Christian hitting over .330 and doing what they wanted to on offense. The key for Northwest will be how can they handle the pressure from the service line to get their hitters in system to score some points. Valley Christian has a lot of depth and top talent in 3A, this will be a tall task to try to take down the defending champs. Although Northwest has some of their own top talent, Valley Christian is very deep and will be able to get contributions from everywhere. We see this being closer over the first meeting but the result will be the same.    Marissa: Valley Christian    Anthony: Valley Christian    2A Finals   How they got here:   Scottsdale Christian and North Valley Christian Academy both went undefeated during the regular season and finished #1 and #2 in the 2A conference. They have clearly been the two best teams this season in 2A and both got to the finals by 3-0 sweeps in the semifinals. Neither had to work too hard in their semifinals match so we are excited to see how they match up with each other. They both have some of the top talent in 2A, and both teams are all over the leaderboard when it comes to stats. We see this as a possible upset in the making if the dominos fall right.    Key players to watch:   [player_tooltip player_id='806217' first='Kylee' last='Wick'] - Middle Blocker - NVCA   [player_tooltip player_id='201903' first='Madison' last='Sherby'] - OH - NVCA   [player_tooltip player_id='806073' first='Kaya' last='Olafson'] - OH - SCA   [player_tooltip player_id='882728' first='Megan' last='Davidson'] - S - SCA   What to look for in the match:   Scottsdale Christian has been here before so in terms of experience this will not be new to them. They have maybe the best player in 2A on their team in Kaya who has been dominant this post season. In the semi final match against Trivium she finished with 22 kills in the 3 set win. She has other support cast members who can pick up any slack if needed, but this is a well balanced team with a lot of depth. On the other side of the coin we have NVCA who is a very balanced team as they showed in their quarterfinals match up. They had 5 girls with over 6 kills and were able to spread the ball around to multiple options throughout. If NVCA can find a way to slow Kaya down and make SCA be out of system they do have the firepower to hang and compete with SCA. However, we do think SCA is just a tier above the rest of 2A this year. They have multiple weapons, and stellar defense players like [player_tooltip player_id='827140' first='Lucy' last='Dickerson'] leading the way. It may be close early, but SCA should run away in the end.    Prediction   Marissa: SCA    Anthony: SCA

We have reached the end of the Arizona high school volleyball season! Tomorrow we will be seeing 5 state champions crowned at the Madhouse on McDowell. If you are free tomorrow I would highly recommend that you come and attend at least some of the matches. Some of the best AZ has to offer will be playing for the championship!