Jessica Poole is a Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Thunderbird High School for AZPreps365.com

The Thunderbird Titans dominated Moon Valley in their first home regional game on Monday, remaining No.1 in the 4A Skyline region.

The Titans, backed by a strong offense, defeated the Rockets in straight sets, 25-10, 25-4 and 25-6.

“We are coming off of two really strong tournament showings where we won a tournament, and then we got third place in the other tournament, playing against 5A and 6A schools, so that was good for our confidence,” Titans coach Carly Price said.

With the Titans riding a wave of confidence, the Rockets were eager for a win after their recent loss to the Greenway Demons.

The first set started off competitive with a 4-4 score, until the Titans began to take a significant lead. Titans captain senior Hayven Lick ended the set with five straight spikes, finishing at 25-10.

The Titans scored first again in the second set while the Rockets struggled to find their footing. The Rockets' first few points were due to the Titans’ hitting errors.  With back-to-back hits and kills from senior Naomi Walsh and Lick, the Titans dominated, 25-4.

At the start of the third set Rockets freshman Kalani Knighton made a strong statement with five kills but came up short. The Titans finished at 25-6, with 12 aces and 35 kills. 

Monday will be etched in history as Lick shattered the school record and hit a career milestone with 1,000 kills.

“My key was putting in work outside of practice,” Lick said. “My freshman year was my first year in volleyball, so I really had to work outside of just six days of practice.”

“I'm hoping my future is going to be playing volleyball in college,” Lick said. “I'm talking to a lot of recruiters right now, and if I don't play volleyball, then I plan on pursuing athletic training.”

Junior Cecilia Bouchard was also celebrated for hitting 1,000 assists.

“At a previous game Cecilia had hit 1,000 assists,” Price said. "She hadn't had her ceremony yet, so we wanted to do them together so they could celebrate together. They work together with Cecilia setting Hayven a lot.”

“I’m living up to what I can do, because I really want to beat the school record, and I'm only 600 away,” Bouchard said. “I feel like it means I'm doing my job and like my teammate, I want to get to 1,000 kills, too, and break a record.”

The Titans' goal this year is to go undefeated in their region and win the championship for their third year in a row.

“We're hoping for some pretty big awards from the girls with all-region and all-state, hopefully with our seniors, and then go deep into the playoffs,” Price said.

“We do a lot of things outside of practice and games that try to build community and team morale. We also build a lot of mental toughness during practice, so we implement things that make them think about the game, which make them work hard and put them in uncomfortable situations.

“I feel like as a coach, that's part of my philosophy of putting them in these situations so that they know how to overcome them in a match, and they can push through adversity.”

Thunderbird (7-2, 2-0) travels to Barry Goldwater (3-4, 0-2) on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Moon Valley (3-5, 0-3) will host Paradise Honors (5-4, 2-0) on Wednesday at 6 p.m.