Kaiden Rockins is a reporter from the Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover ALA - Gilbert North.

American Leadership Academy - Gilbert North volleyball achieved a sweet sweep Thursday evening with its first state playoff game against St. Mary’s. The Eagles will move on to the next round after beating the Knights 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-21).

They advance to a No. 1 vs. No. 2 seed matchup as they will be facing second-ranked Arcadia on Monday.

Some notable performances from the match Thursday were Tana Howard’s seven kills, four assists and five blocks. Dissy Brinkerhoff added five aces served and five kills, while Kate Christiansen tallied three assists and ace served.

Heading into the game, the Eagles were the top-ranked team in their region and conference. With a record of 16-1 head coach Matt Pritulsky wanted to assure his team did not lack humility.

“That is something that we kind of guard against,” he said. “But you know, I think the big thing for us is the fact that I think we’re going to get everybody’s best game. From this point on, I mean, there’s all good teams left.

“Everybody’s going to play their hardest. Everybody’s got nothing to lose. And, you know, they come in here and when they’re going against us they’re going to bring the energy so we’ve got to match that.”

Knowing that St. Mary’s would come into the game with high energy and hopes of an upset, the Eagles would have to approach the game with the same mindset. Howard, the senior captain setter and right-side hitter, was well aware of it.

“I think the team was super excited, a little bit jittery and nervous, but overall we’re just excited to make it this far. Being number one seed was super exciting,” Howard said.

The first set of the game was extremely competitive with a final score of 25-23. Howard started the set with a total of two kills and two assists. Another player who ensured the victory of the set was senior middle blocker Jadyn Mirand, who came out of the set with three kills.

Set two was less competitive between the two sides with ALA - Gilbert North taking it, 25-16. It included senior outside hitter Brinkerhoff’s three kills and two aces. The set also had continued dominance from Howard, who tallied three blocks, two assists and a kill.

The final set of the game was another competitive one from the Knights, who refused to be knocked out of the playoffs so easily. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough as the Eagles won 25-21. Brinkerhoff continued her superb serving with another ace and two more kills.

“I’m kind of just like, I need to get this serve for our team and trying to hit the ball as hard as I can,” Brinkerhoff said of her mindset that led to the serving success.

Howard would not only show her playing ability but also her leadership after the referee called the ball out after a crucial dig from senior outside hitter and defensive specialist Mallory King. After consulting with her team, she went over to the referee and spoke with him.

“We all thought she got up, it was a great up. And so I was just asking him what he saw, if he could talk to his line judge -- but we can’t get the ref on our side every time, so that’s OK. But just winning the next point, moving on and still taking the game just not letting it get to our heads, I think that was the key,” Howard said.

Brinkerhoff elaborated more on the team’s thought process after the call and why Howard went and talked with the referee.

“Just trying to, like, tell our captain Tana, like go talk to him. Tell him it was up. And just like tell Mallory that it was a great up and that just keep doing it,” Brinkerhoff said.

After the game, Pritulsky was proud of his team’s focus.

“I thought we did really well,” he said. “There was some things that we wanted to clean up, some things that specifically we’re working on in practice that I thought we did really well at. We identified some things that we’re going to need to work on again, but overall I think they did really well. Very happy with the effort and execution.”