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

The Titans from Chandler Prep hosted the Falcons from Veritas Prep on Monday, October 21st and lost 3-1 in highly contested sets. With both teams coming in with two loses, the pressure was on for each to improve its conference rank. Although Chandler Prep performed well as always at the net with over 30 kills from the likes of Olivia Cadien, Evi Yates, Marin Scoggin, Ellie Unruh, and Mia Evers, the Veritas offensive strategy made it hard for the Titans to get in scoring position on returns.

“I thought we played really hard,” senior hitter Marin Scoggin said. “But they just outplayed us. It just came down to that.”

Both teams started with strong defense and the first set was dominated by short rallies, short service runs, and kills on both sides of the net. Marin Scoggin went for the longest service run, a three-point run that helped the Titans take the lead midway through the game, along with the Veritas player who served to end the game. Despite the close kept scoring, the Falcons pulled out the win on one of the few aces in the game for a final score of 21-25. Coach Jones said this:

“They’re a good team. They’re ranked [fourth] in the state right now and they have some really big power hitters. They’re a senior led team and they have a lot of seniors, so we knew it would be a really tough game coming in here, but we did a good job battling today.”

The Titans entered the second set determined and although the Falcons were still stronger at the net, Chandler Prep put together a strong defensive strategy and good serves to pull out the win. Junior setter, Holly Gialketsis led the Titans offense with a seven-point service run including three of her four aces in the set. Yates led the defense with good blocks at the net along with Cadien’s kills. The Falcons still kept the score close, but the set score favored the Titans 25-20.

The Falcons came back from 1-1 and delivered a very strong third set. The Titans struggled to keep serve and get their kills through the block, starting to get into a rhythm only near the end of the game with three kills at the net from sophomore, Mia Evers. The Falcons took the set by nine with a final score of 16-25. The Falcons started out the fourth set strong as well with a five-point service run ended with a kill from Yates, but the Titans fought hard with junior libero, Cassi Bronson and sophomore hitter, Alison Mingus showcasing strong serves. Unfortunately, the Titans fell to the Falcons might at the net and lost the final set 22-25. Jones said this about the match:

“Well, we learned that taking a week off before playing a game isn’t the best, but we learned that we can play against these teams. It’s pretty good to play good against a team like that. We’ll be able to see them again in the state playoffs and we’ll hopefully do well.”

After Tuesday’s 3-0 victory in region play against the Tempe Prep Knights, the Titans look to remain undefeated in region play as they host the Antelope Union Rams on Thursday, October 24th at 6:00 PM. Titan Up.