SCOTTSDALE — The 2026 season has officially come to a close for the Salpointe Catholic volleyball team, as the No. 6 Lancers fell on the road Tuesday night to No. 3 Chaparral 3-2 in a 5A quarterfinal battle until the finish. It was a resilient effort by the Lancers, who nearly pulled off a reverse sweep of the Firebirds.
“The first two sets, [Chaparral] played great,” Salpointe Catholic coach Keith Rubio said. “I thought we were really resilient, coming back in the third and fourth. Then the fifth could have been, I mean, just a couple plays here or there. [Chaparral] is a really good team. It could have gone either way, it’s just a couple plays.”
Salpointe (which finished its season 23-11) got off to a quick start in set one, jumping out to a 6-0 lead. They wouldn’t hold the lead for long, though, as Chaparral (15-5) was able to come back and tie things at 12 with a kill from junior Morgan Thorne.
Both teams continued to fight for dominance, but kills from freshman Harlow Dzurick and Ellie Milton would put Chaparral on top 17-15 and give the Firebirds the upper hand. The Firebirds were able to extend the lead to three off a violation by the Lancers, making it 18-15 and forcing Salpointe Catholic to call a timeout.
Freshman Kolbie Jackson had a kill coming out of the timeout, but Chaparral was able to maintain the lead. Eventually, the Firebirds worked their way out to a 24-20 lead. Chaparral took set one 25-21, with the set point coming on a serve out of bounds.
Set two was all Chaparral early. After working their way to a 4-0 lead, the Firebirds continued to build until they were leading 11-5, forcing Salpointe to call another timeout. However, the defense of the Firebirds was too strong to overcome, as they’d only give up four more points for the remainder of the set. Salpointe struggled, falling in set two 25-9.
Trailing 2-0, the Lancers were feeling the pressure and knew they had to act now if they were going to avoid elimination.
Salpointe jumped out to an early lead in set three, but it would be short-lived. Chaparral answered by taking a 6-5 lead, which Salpointe would fight back and contest. The two teams continued to fight it out for the lead, seeking to establish dominance over the other.
Finally, the Lancers were able to break away to an 11-8 lead following a kill from freshman Hunter Hashim, a violation against Chaparral and an ace from junior sophia Lopez. Continuing to work, the Lancers eventually pushed their way to a 20-15 lead following kills from freshman Viktorjia Petravicius and Hashim.
Chaparral tried, but had no answers for the Lancers, as they were able to take set four 25-19 and stay alive.
Set four started out with a battle by both teams to establish the upper hand. By the midway point, both teams were still standing toe-to-toe, tied at 12. After Chaparral worked its way to an 18-14 lead, the Lancers called a timeout to try to stop the momentum.
Coming out of the timeout, the Lancers went on a 5-1 run to tie things at 19, forcing Chaparral to call a timeout of its own.
Chaparral took the lead coming out of the timeout, but things remained tight between the two of them. Hashim had a kill to tie things at 21, but a serve out of bounds would put Chaparral back on top. The Firebirds had a serve out of bounds to answer, making things tied again at 22. More issues with serving continued for Salpointe, as they’d serve the ball out of bounds once again, but on the next rally, Jackson had a huge kill to tie things at 23 and force Chaparral to call a timeout.
The two teams remained tied at 25, but not for long. Salpointe Catholic was finally able to break away to take the set 27-25 after a hit into the net by Chaparral and an ace by junior Bella Bruzzone.
“The third and fourth sets, we were really having a hard time finding our game, and we were doing a lot of uncharacteristic setting decisions and hitting actions,” Chaparral coach Evan Sedillo said. “It really got us off-balance, so when they put pressure on us, we got more stressed out.”
Going into the fifth set, you could feel the intensity in the gym between the two teams.
Chaparral got started by working its way out to a 3-2 lead over Salpointe, but the Lancers stayed close behind. Each time Chaparral would go up by a point, Salpointe would answer to even the score. It wasn’t until late in the fifth set when the Firebirds finally broke away from the Lancers.
Kills from junior Kendal Kuchipudi and Thorne would extend the Chaparral lead to 12-9. After falling behind, the three points would be too much to overcome in such a short time, as Chaparral took set five 15-12, winning the match 3-2.
“They served it great,” Rubio said. “Then when they were out of system on the left and right, they did a really nice job of attacking, and attacking it aggressive.”
For Chaparral, the Firebirds will now advance on to face No. 7 Sunrise Mountain on Thursday.
“I can’t wait,” Sedillo said. “We’re a very young team. We’re very young, we’re very athletic, and we’re just fighting our hearts out to get to wherever we can.”
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