Gilbert Higley came back from a dropped first set and defeated Canyon del Oro in volleyball Tuesday night, 16-25, 25-16, 25-17, 27-25.

 

“We didn’t give up. This team came from the last like five to six years they didn’t really have that belief that they could fight. So them being able to hang in there through the ups and downs, that was the biggest,” Higley head coach Daniel Arrington said about his team.

A strong player that showed a lot of effort on the court was Abigail Lamoreaux.

Lamoreaux went back-to-back-to-back with aces at one point.

“I think aces completely change the game. Honestly, when you ace a team, it is so empowering and it gets your whole team hyped up. It makes us more relaxed when that ball comes back over like ‘We got the next ball. We can run our offense more,’” Lamoreaux said.

In the second set of the game, Higley earned seven out of their 25 points alone on aces.

Abigail Straight also was powerful with her aces. She had back-to-back aces in both the second and the third set.

Canyon del Oro's coach found a positive in the loss.

“Our strong point was our outside attack and our weakest point was probably our serve receiving,” Canyon del Oro head coach Michael Owens said.

A key player that stood out for Canyon del Oro was Zeleya Loop. She was able to make lots of kills that allowed for her team to keep the Knights on their toes.

During the first set, Higley was looking a little off, losing by nine points.

“They (Canyon del Oro) would roll on some good runs, have some great kills and we would let it get down and we would get out of our game and I would just try and call some time outs to keep them in the game,” Arrington said.

The next matchup for Higley is against Shadow Mountain High School.

Arrington outlined expectations for that match. "Our whole goal is we know we can compete with everybody. It is now proven. Coming in every game not worrying about our mistakes, showing up, and battling the whole time,” Arrington said.