Ironwood has been doing well this season and has gotten contributions from a number of areas, one area is their defense and leading that charge is Malie. Her stats warrant some eyes to fall on her with how well she is doing, she currently is 8th in 5A in digs and is averaging over 5 digs a set at the moment. She does well in serve receive and defense with her ability to get her feet behind the ball and her arms in a great angle to the target to keep her team in system. She moves very well and can cover a lot of ground to get balls to the corner or off speed shots all around the floor. Malie plays with a ton of energy and communicates very well with her teammates in terms of what she sees on defense and serve receive. A libero who is an excellent with her ability to play to a high level, communicate, and always getting good touches on the ball make her an easy pick as a top performer especially with the numbers she is putting up game in and game out.

Mali’e Soza Mali’e Soza DS/L Ironwood | 2027 State AZ anchored Ironwood’s back row with confidence and control all season long, consistently keeping her team competitive against some of the toughest opponents in Arizona. She delivered 18 digs in a dominant three-set sweep over Desert Mountain and an astounding 38 digs in Ironwood’s late-October upset of Centennial. Her steady, standout play was a major factor in the Eagles securing the No. 6 seed in the 5A bracket.

Malie finished the season as the No. 1 dig leader in the 5A Conference and No. 3 in the entire state of Arizona, racking up 584 digs this year alone. That performance brings her career total to 949—putting her on track to cross the 1,000-dig milestone at the start of her senior season. She also added impact behind the service line with 41 aces and kept the offense alive in tough moments, contributing 36 out-of-system assists.

With Malie leading the back row, the Ironwood Eagles have firmly established themselves as a 5A team to watch in the 2026 season. They made waves this year—and they’re only getting started.