Caleb Gottry
Student SID

Titans crush Cougars in straight sets

October 11, 2019 by Caleb Gottry, Chandler Preparatory Academy


Setter, Sydney Thacker and hitter, Mia Evers talk after a Titan point (Caleb Gottry/AZPreps365).

Caleb Gottry attends Chandler Preparatory Academy and is a member of the AIA’s Student SID program.

On Thursday, October 10th, Titan volleyball faced the Cougars and dominated on the court. The Titans serving attack led to short rallies and long service runs, while junior hitter, Olivia Cadien paced the Titans at the net with nine kills. Along with countless assists as the Chandler Prep’s starting setter, Sydney Thacker also led the Titans in aces with a total of ten in six serving appearances. Coach Jones congratulates his team, saying

“They did well. Last time we played them, we beat them in four, so we focused really hard on limiting our mistakes, which is why we won the first and third set really big”

The Titans started the first set strong and quickly collected a ten point lead with servers Thacker, with a five point run and three aces, and junior, Evi Yates, with a six point run and five aces doing the most damage. The Titans held on to their lead and won the set 25-8 punctuated two aces from Thacker. She said this about Thursday’s match:

“It was amazing. We did everything we wanted to do, we did everything we were supposed to do, we had amazing energy and passion, and honestly, everyone worked as a team together.”

The Cougars kept the second set much closer, and each team only had one service run, six points for the Cougars and only three for the Titans by Thacker. Cadien kept the ball alive at the net along with sophomore hitter, Mia Evers. Chandler Prep pulled out the win with their strong defense for a final score of 25-22.

The Titans entered the final set determined and freshmen hitters Ashlyn Unruh and Zoe Yates, younger sisters of Varsity players Ellie Unruh and Evi Yates, contributed greatly for the win. Zoe Yates went on an eight-point service run at the beginning of the set, including two aces, putting the Titans ahead ten to one. Ashlyn Unruh played hard at the net with three kills, second only to Cadien’s five, including one that ended the set on Zoe’s serve. Jones said this about their performance at the Varsity level:

“They did well. We had a couple girls nursing injuries and we had one player not here today, so we called up a couple freshman and we thought they played really well, especially in that third set to finish us up.”

The Titans from Chandler Prep look to add to their 12-2 record as they face the Veritas Falcons on October 21st at 6:00pm in the Titans second-to-last home match-up. Titan Up.