The regular season in the 4A Conference is almost over but it is for the top-ranked team, Salpointe, and the fourth ranked team, Mica Mountain. The Lancers clinched the 4A Kino Region title with a sweep at Sahuaro last Thursday but the program needed one more win Monday night on the road to finish the regular season with an unblemished power-match record but the Thunderbolts had other plans with a 3-1 victory that might be enough to shift some of the rankings at the top heading to the state playoffs.

No. 1 Salpointe is now 16-1 in ranking matches and 7-1 in regional play and No. 4 Mica Mountain is 15-2 and 6-2. We will find out on Tuesday afternoon what this did to the rankings heading into the final day of play on Friday.

Salpointe beat Mica Mountain 3-2 in an epic match at home on Sept. 24 and those were the only two sets given up all year until the Thunderbolts returned the favor Monday night but it wasn’t easy.

With the vaunted Mica Mountain football team in attendance, the atmosphere was electric but the Lancers built a 16-11 lead in the first set only to see the Thunderbolts go on a 7-2 run, fueled by three straight aces from Addison Andrews, to tie the set up 18-18. Two of the top hitters in the state, in Ashlyn Quiri for Salpointe and Aubrey Necas for Mica Mountain, traded kills back and forth until Thunderbolt standout Soso Okpara put Mica Mountain up 22-20.

Quiri scored to cut the lead down but Necas put Mica Mountain back up 23-21. A block from Kate Mobley would tie the set up 23-23 a couple of points later but Okpara scored and then Mica Mountain pulled the first set out 25-23.

Mica Mountain took the second set 25-13 but the Lancers won the third set in epic fashion after Necas scored to cut the Salpointe lead down to 23-22. Quiri made it 24-22 but Andrews hit Aubrie Fellmeth to make it 24-23. Caitlin Hurley found Natalia Solomon at the net and Salpointe pulled the set out 25-23 to make it 2-1 Mica Mountain.

Mica Mountain went out to a 10-2 lead in the fourth set but the Lancers went on a 12-2 run to tie it up 14-14. The set went on to a 21-21 tie on a score from Salpointe standout Mia Bartfalvi but a service error, a block from Amaris Biancuzzo and another kill from Necas made it 24-21 Mica Mountain but it wasn’t over. Mobley made it 24-22 and Kiki Muehlebach cut the lead down to 24-23 before Mobley tied it up 24-24. Andrews hit Necas to make it 25-24 and then Jayden Nugent passed the ball over her head behind her where Necas scored for the 26-24 victory.

Current No. 2 Flagstaff (16-0) hosts No. 13 Prescott on Wednesday, No. 3 Estrella Foothills (16-1) hosts No. 25 Cactus (11-6) on Wednesday and No. 5 Ironwood Ridge (11-4) has two more matches. The Nighthawks travel to 6A No. 39 Rincon University (3-13) on Tuesday and the team will host 4A No. 32 Walden Grove (6-9) on Wednesday.

The Conference Play-In Tournament is set for Tuesday, Nov. 5 and the state tournament will follow on Thursday, Nov. 7 for the 4A Conference.

Ashlyn Quiri. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Aubrey Necas. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Addison Andrews (L) and Soso Okpara. Andrews passed the 3,000 career set mark. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Kate Mobley. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)