Gilbert's volleyball team wanted to put its only loss of the young season Thursday to Hamilton in the rearview mirror and entering and winning the House of Payne Invitational seemed to do the trick.

Gilbert won all eight of its matches in the two-day tournament, ending it with a hard-fought, three-set victory over improved Corona del Sol. Scores of the match Saturday afternoon were 21-25, 25-16 and 15-11 at Chandler High's Coy Payne Gymnasium.

"We used the tournament to try and get to a level of play we're happy with," Gilbert coach Joe Hesse said. "We did that for the most part. The last couple matches we played today, I feel better with where we're at. It's certainly better than we were the other night."

The "other night" was a three-set loss at home to Hamilton, which continues to vex Hesse and the Tigers. Gilbert (12-1) won all three of its pool-play matches Friday, won three more in another grouping on Saturday and the final two of bracket play. Leading the way for Gilbert was outside hitter Makenna Martin, libero Kameryn HIll and outside hitter Kaitlyn (KJ) Lines.

Martin, a junior, contributed 12 kiills and 18 digs in the championship match. She was one of seven players named earlier in the afternoon to the all-tournament team. HIll, also a junior, came up with 25 digs and Lines, a sophomore, complemented Martin's attacking with seven kills.

"Makenna is as complete a player for her age as there is," Hesse said. "We're usually successful with the recipe (stats) we had in this match ... And if you can leave a tournament with a big trophy it makes it that much better."

Martin collected five kills and an ace in the decisive set and came up with some outstanding digs as did Hill in the final set.

Despite losing the title match, Corona coach Ben Maxfield was content with what his young squad has accomplished in two weeks of play.

"We're much farther ahead than we were last year at this time and we're still very young," Maxfield said. "We had too many unforced errors late. And they controlled most of the chaotic plays in the last set."

Corona won seven of its eight matches to improve its record to 10-1. The Aztecs were a .500 team last year and barely missed postseason. Freshman middle Emma West led Corona with eight kills and Danielle Sullivan added six kills. Libero Alyssa Meyer led defensively with 11 digs.

Gilbert, Perry, Corona del Sol and Mesa High advanced to the final four of the gold division from play earlier on Saturday. Gilbert defeated Perry, 25-17, 25-17 and Corona rallied to knock off Mesa, 20-25, 25-20, 15-4.

Joining Martin on the all-tournament team, which was comprised of players that advanced to the top eight teams when play resumed Saturday morning, were Perry outside hitter Taylor Knoll (the MVP), Corona middle Lauren Forte, Boulder Creek's Megan Mowry, Highland's Ally Eylers, Chandler's Gionni Brown and Saguaro's Bethany Wedepohl.

Three other pools crowned winners on Saturday. Saguaro won the Silver Pool by beating Highland in three sets; Desert Ridge captured the Bronze Pool topping Youngker in three sets and Red Mountain claimed the Copper Pool title with a three-set triumph over Marana Mountain View.