Mountain View defeated Catalina Foothills 3-1 (25-23, 25-16, 15-25, 25-13) Thursday night to capture what is believed to be the first section title in school history. The victory gave the Mountain Lions a 19-6 record and a 13-1 mark in power-ranking games. More importantly, Mountain View is undefeated in section play (8-0) with huge program wins over powers such as Salpointe and Ironwood Ridge in the mix.

The section championship guarantees a state playoff spot for No. 5 Mountain View but the school is also attempting to host a first round match in the state tournament. That, of course, would also be a first for the school.

“We have eight seniors who really wanted this,” first-year coach Lindsey Spivey explained. “We also have several juniors and they are all ready and hungry. They really want it this year.”

An assistant coach on the girl’s team, Spivey jumped at the chance to take over the boy’s program when it became available. She took over a team that finished 6-11 last year despite having many of the same statistical leaders on the roster.

“They respected me right away and we got to business,” Spivey added. “Desire. They have desire this year.”

Catalina Foothills (11-10) is a school with a much deeper tradition of winning at the highest level with three state titles and two runner-up finishes. But the program went from 26 wins and a second round appearance in 2013 to only four wins last year.

Nic Thiltges is hoping to bring some of that winner’s mentality back to the program and he has some of the pieces in place, especially junior hitter Mike Benedict.

Benedict led both teams with 22 kills but the Falcons came up short in key situations despite battling back from several deficits. Mountain View led 20-12 in the first set but the Falcons went on an 11-4 run to close to within 23-24 only to fall 25-23. Benedict had six kills in the second set but Mountain View built another 20-12 lead and held on for a 25-16 win.

Things started to come together for the Falcons in the third set and the team cruised to a 25-15 win only to drop the fourth set 25-13.

“It’s hard to quantify what it is,” Thiltges explained when asked what was holding his team back.

“The team has to learn to grow and break the habit of losing,” he added. “When they beat CDO in three sets they had a taste of that team mentality.”

Spivey also saw some things that caused her concern, especially the way the third set went.

“We were inconsistent and we crumbled there,” she added.  “They have to learn to let go of mistakes and stay up.”

Ethan Meade added 10 kills to go along with the 22 recorded by Benedict and Donald Gregg had 36 assists for Catalina Foothills. Griffin Whithed led Mountain View with 15 kills and Noah Elmer had 11. Sean Losik had 38 assists.

The state tournament starts on Saturday, May 7.