Valley Christian girls basketball is all about defense. That aspect was on display again Saturday as the Trojans bid for their second consecutive 2A championship. Plugging the middle and making every shot Thatcher took in the paint a tough one, Valley Christian made a close game a rout in the second half with a 53-35 triumph over the Eagles at Tims Toyota Center in Prescott Valley.

Lucinda Nash retiring after winning eight Class 3A titles, including the last three.

Winning a fourth straight 5A-I volleyball title looked as though it would be a walk in the park for Xavier after t

Behind Madison Kingdon\\\'s powerful performance, Vikings dispatch Prescott to win third straight 4A-I title.

It is hard to imagine when teams play 40 matches in the same conference that they did not meet at least once during the season. That was the case with perennial 5A-I contender Desert Vista and on-coming Desert Ridge Thursday night in the state girls volleyball quarterfinals. Desert Vista was not a region champ, but paid its dues in the Fiesta Region with the likes of state tournament qualifiers Xavier, Hamilton and Red Mountain. That experience and an adjustment midway through the match helped in rallying from two games down as the No. 4 seeded Thunder recorded a 24-26, 19-25, 25-12, 25-18, 15-12 win over the No. 12 Jaguars.

Basha did what others haven\\\'t in the past fiive years. The Bears handed Corona del Sol a 5A-I first-round state girls volleyball tournament defeat, coming back from a 2-1 deficit to beat the Aztecs, 25-27, 25-21, 12-25, 25-14, 15-6 at Basha High.

Volleyball, swimming and diving, cross country, small-school soccer sure to keep fans busy.

Xavier begins its bid for a fourth straight 5A-I state girls volleyball championship Tuesday night with a revamped lineup that has continued to win although more laboriously than earlier in the season.

The Desert Ridge girls volleyball team wanted nothing better than to keep the momentum of the last couple seasons going Tuesday night as the 2010 regular season winds to a close. For the Jaguars that means trying to qualify for the state tournament for the third year in a row.

Although the elite bracket was won by an out-of-state school, powerful La Jolla (Calif.) Country Day, girls volleyball players from seven Arizona schools (eight in all) were selected to the 21-member, all-tournament team at last weekend\'s Nike Tournament of Champions girls volleyball tournament held in Chandler, Gilbert and Tempe.