Adam Hughes is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mountain View High School for AZPreps365.com

Division I's No. 7-ranked Mountain View (11-0) and will host Mesa (6-5) in an East Valley regional meeting on Thursday.

The undefeated Toros are hoping to avenge last year's loss to the Jackrabbits, and are coming off a dominant 7-2 win against Westwood on Tuesday.

“There is definitely a little bit of pressure because you want to do better than last year,” junior Sophie Castleton said. “Ultimately it’s the same as any other game you want to go in there play your best, hit good shots, and have a feel-good energy.”

The Toros dominant season includes four sweeps, and their closest win margin was a 5-4 victory against Paradise Valley on September 3. 

The Jackrabbits' match at the Toros will be the second of a back-to-back, after losing 5-4 at Skyline on Tuesday. 

Led by Mountain View's Varsity 1 Castleton, the Toros enter their matchup with a focus on intensity and high energy, but believes this will be the toughest test before the state tournament begins Oct. 25.

Mountain View's No. 3 senior Kylan Clauschee is excited for the matchup as she gets to play Mesa for the fourth and final time.

“I have made so much progress just to get to this point where I am varsity 3,” Clauschee said. “I get to play bigger rivals which means bigger competition which means I can show how much I have improved over the years… honestly I’m just excited for that.”

The inexperience of the Toros's first-year head coach Julie Stone has not been an issue. Stone's used a simple gameplan to her team's success.

“I just have tried to get my girls to work on moving around the court because I think that will be our key to success,” Stone said. “I think these games will be a little bit harder than what we have been play previously... I know my team and how well they can perform and so I’m not to concerned about how they will react to the challenge.”

Mesa comes into every game the same and not worried at all about coming into the match as the underdog.

“My athletes give their all during practice and matches whether the team is 0-9 or 9-0,” Jackrabbits head coach Raquel Petersen said. “Rival teams just make it more exciting to prepare… passion and heart can work wonders and being the underdog to a rival will only increase the emotion that my players bring to competition."