Bryan Ross is a journalism student at ASU's Cronkite School of Journalism and is assigned to cover Mountain View High School for AZPreps365.com

MESA — In the first-ever AIA Boys Beach Volleyball Division I State Championship, the Mountain View Toros proved why they came into this tournament as the No. 2 seed, beating the No. 15 Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions in the first round Tuesday night.

Every player on the Toros team looked outstanding on the sand — after all, they swept the Mountain Lions by winning all five matchups — but there is a player who, as Toros head coach William Steyskal said, “Watching him is just like watching a professor.”

This was the final matchup of the night. #9 is senior Matix Williams, who is serving the ball to the opposing team. They beat Mountain Ridge, winning two sets: 21-6, 19-21, 15-4
Senior Matix Williams is a star volleyball athlete, and even though he is wrapping up his high school career, he has more volleyball experience than most people older than him, according to Steyskal.

During October, he was in the FIVB Beach Volleyball Under-18 World Championship in Doha, Qatar, and this past summer, in July, he played in the NORCECA Men's Volleyball Championship.

When it came time for Williams to play his match, every other game had finished, and all players from both teams were locked onto this matchup.

Williams and his teammate Max Ashby won two of the three sets played, and in both of the wins they did not let their opponent score more than seven points on them.

Despite losing the second set, it did not faze any of the boys as they came back to end the first round of the state tournament.

Steyskal knows how valuable having a player like Williams is to the team, as no matter the outcome of a set, he will find a way to improve and get better for the next game.

“Matix does a really good job of redirecting and returning back to course,” Steyskal said. “He’ll take over in a game and start shooting more options.”

While this is a historic win, Williams had more of a nonchalant attitude when talking about it.

“It was good,” Williams said. “All our teams took care of business.”

Although this first-round matchup may have seemed like a blowout game, Williams made it clear that beating the Mountain Lions was far from being too easy.

#9 senior Matix Williams is getting ready to serve during the game, and his teammate #17 junior Max Ashby is preparing to defend the net.“They’re very scrappy,” Williams said. “We had to hit the ball hard to score it, so, very hard to play against.”

Being so experienced, one may think he does not view this tournament any differently, but he says this one in particular feels more distinct than any other tournament he has been in.

“This definitely feels different because I'm representing my school, and just being able to be a part of, like, the first of something, and being able to establish this program for kids in the future, is important,” Williams said.

Having played boys beach volleyball for the Toros since 2022, Williams made a goal of building a lasting foundation for future players which can already be seen with freshman Paxon Boynton.

Boynton attributed his successful duo’s 10-0 season to the roles he and his partner, Ty Denham, hold during games.

#1 Paxon Boynton is spiking the ball, gaining a point for Mountain View, and his teammate #13 Ty Denham is defending the back.“Having my partner block and then me playing defense, especially because of the height difference, has been key to our season,” Boynton said.

But during this match, Boynton faced what could have been a huge roadblock.

His duo partner, Ty Denham, was feeling a little under the weather and did not have enough energy to keep blocking, so they decided to switch roles throughout the match.

Although Boynton is not too experienced when it comes to blocking in beach volleyball games, as his teammate is the designated blocker and is 6-foot-4, it ended up working great for this duo, as they won both sets 21-10 and 21-6.

Steyskal was impressed with how well Boynton played, as it is a role that he normally does not play.

#1 Paxon Boynton is spiking the ball, showcasing why Steyskal had been impressed with Boynton's performance on the net.“Paxon came up and was able to maneuver on the net and put down a couple of blocks and make some plays right off the net that were pretty impressive,” Steyskal said.

Without a doubt, Steyskal is proud of his boys, but he knows that the “true” challenges will start coming up in the later rounds of this tournament.

“We feel like we have the ability to move past in semifinals from next Monday," Steyskal said. “And then in semifinals, we've got to put on a show and play our best.”