A 10-match week came to a halt for Hamilton and Deer Valley Saturday afternoon in the finals of the Lady Hawk Volleyball Classic. The edge rested for Hamilton with its 15-player roster.

Hamilton completed its week at 9-1 by winning easier than expected in the title match with Deer Valley by scores of  25-14, 25-17, at Highland High.

"We were able to play a lot of kids this weekend," Hamilton coach Sharon Vanis said. "We played matches on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and the tournament (Friday) and today. I think it was the same for Deer Valley and a lot of teams in this tournament. It was nice to win, and get a lot of our kids in there."

Hamilton, currently second in the 5A-I power-point rankings, swept all five of its pool play matches (three Friday and two more Saturday morning) to reach the gold division semifinals. The Huskies didn't loss a game in any of their seven tournament matches. Their lone loss of the week came in a five-game match with Fiesta Region rival Desert Vista. That match began the week, so the Huskies now have a healthy nine-game winning streak in tow when they head to Xavier on Tuesday to face the No. 1 team in the 5A-I power-point rankings. Xavier is the only other team to beat Hamilton this year, knocking them off in the semifinals last month at the Tournament of Champions at Westwood.

Hamilton was led in the tourney by the play of all-tournament selections setter Jordyn Moody and middle Payton Bock. The Huskies broke out to large early leads in both games, with Moody serving in a 6-0 run in the second game and Brittany Thomas doing likewise in the first game.

Deer Valley, No. 1 at present in the 5A-II power-point rankings, produced a 6-1 record in the tournament and 9-1 mark for the week. The Skyhawks showed plenty of moxie in winning its final pool-play match and then tacking on its semifinal win. They trailed game one of their pool-play finale with host Highland, 24-18. They rallied for seven consecutive points and ended up prevailing, 27-25, and went on to sweep the Hawks.

In the semifinals against Desert Ridge, Deer Valley won the first game. It trailed 22-17 in the second game and again came to life for a 25-23 victory.

"I wanted us to put up more of a fight than we did in the championship game," Deer Valley coach Jackie Wallace said. "We'd shown an ability to come back. But these girls are fighters. It's been a tough week. A lot of matches and travel. And we had homecoming last (Friday) night.

"...Hamilton's a great team. They showed us the difference between 5A-I and 5A-II."

Deer Valley also had two players on the all-tournament team -- outside hitter Lauren Haeger and setter Kayla Kane. Also selected to the all-tournament team were Desert Ridge outside hitter Talia Jones, Red Mountain outside hitter Heather Leavitt and Chandler middle blocker Danielle Kooyman.