Will Riddell is a student journalist at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University assigned to cover North High School volleyball.

The North High School Lady Mustangs (7-2) took care of business Thursday night in Phoenix, winning in straight sets to defeat the Westview Knights (2-13) 3-0.

The Lady Mustangs were down 6-4 to start the first set, but quickly bounced back and kept the momentum rolling. A 6-0 run put North up 10-6, and head coach Mindy Williams’ squad did not look back for the remainder of the first.

That 6-0 run included a couple of aces from senior Kate Salazar, who had a nice night serving the ball.

North finished on a 10-0 run to give them a big 25-9 opening set victory. Multiple players got in on the action, including Madison Gallagher. A big serve from the sophomore inflated the lead to 21-9, putting North in a great position to close out the first set.

“I really wanted to get my serves over and in,” Gallagher said. “I have a tendency when I’m under pressure to serve the best.”

There was not much pressure at that point, but Gallagher delivered anyway from behind the line.

“My biggest goal was to get my serves in,” she said.

After a big block at the net, North had a commanding 24-9 lead. Westview failed to land their next hit in bounds, and the Lady Mustangs took set one.

Both teams went on runs all night long. With North out in front 9-4 early in the second set, the Knights put together a run of their own to even up the scoring.

An ace from Gallagher put North on top, but the Knights would respond with yet another run, forcing coach Williams to burn her first timeout of the match with her team trailing 17-15 in the second.

The team responded by putting together a string of nice serves to regain the lead.

“I think our serves brought us back [in the second set],” Williams said.

North came roaring out of the timeout, and eventually went on a key 4-0 run that gave them a little cushion. Salazar once again showed off her smooth serving, firing in two more aces to make it 23-20. Now it was Westview who was calling for time.

Junior Jamyra Henderson came up with a block, Lizbeth Juarez got an ace, and the Lady Mustangs survived 25-21 in set two.

Yessenia Rogelio took over early in the final set. The senior captain, who currently leads the team in kills, was responsible for two big spikes during a run which put North up 8-1 early in the third. Rogelio continues to come up big for the Lady Mustangs on both offense and defense.

“I’m a senior, it’s my last year,” Rogelio said. “(I) ball out, or leave this gym saying I could have done more.”

The Knights sliced the deficit to six later on, trailing 23-17 with North still in control. After a Westview serve failed to stay in bounds, the Lady Mustangs were one point away from a second straight 3-0 victory. They got the next point to close out the match.

The win Thursday is North’s seventh overall, and second in a row. 

“Coming out with a win was pretty huge,” Williams said.

The Lady Mustangs will look to keep rolling in another home match next Tuesday against Westwood.