Canyon del Oro swept Tucson High 25-20, 25-14 and 26-24 at home Monday night to improve to 6-1 in power-ranking matches while Tucson fell to 1-5 in ranking matches with the first AIA/MaxPreps set to be released at noon on Oct. 1.

Both squads are relatively young, with only three seniors on each roster, but each team has high expectations with region play on the horizon. The Badgers compete in the 6A Metro Region along with North (6-0) and the Dorados play in the 4A Kino Region, home of Salpointe (5-1). North and Salpointe captured each respective region last year based on head-to-head matches with Tucson and Canyon del Oro but those results could easily flip this year.

Led by junior setter Katie Call, the Dorados slowly pulled away to take a 23-16 lead in the first set but a couple of blocks from junior middle Kristiana Manriquez and a kill from junior outside Chloe Atkins helped fuel a 4-0 run to cut the lead down to 23-20 but a service error ended the run and an ace from Emma Guzman secured the 25-20 victory.

Unofficially, Call finished with 28 assists and she went to senior outside Jillian Kniffen early to help build a 14-7 lead in the second set but it was seven aces from Kniffen that helped set the tone the rest of the way. The Dorados took the second set 25-14 and then call turned to sophomore hitter Abby Whatton.

Whatton finished with 13 kills on the night and another ace from Kniffen helped give the Dorados a 13-9 lead in the third set. The Badgers responded with a 9-4 run thanks to several kills from Atkins and a couple of blocks from Manriquez to take an 18-17 lead.

Whatton picked up four of her kills down the stretch and junior middle Grace Hisey recorded all four of her kills to help turn the Badgers back, 26-24, after a kill and an ace from junior setter Itzel Quijada forced a 24-24 tie.

Quijada and senior Kaylee Miller combined for 16 assists on the night with Atkins connecting on seven.

Tucson travels to Chandler (4-3) on Thursday before taking part in the Goldwater Festival on Friday. Canyon del Oro will visit Tanque Verde (7-0) on Tuesday night.