A lot of the older brothers of the players on this season’s American Leadership Academy Queen Creek volleyball team set the foundation for what the 2021 squad raised Saturday—a 4A Conference state championship trophy.

Northwest Christian should also feel proud after reaching the title match for the first time in that program’s history. The teams’ fans acknowledged their efforts with well-deserved ovations after ALA Queen Creek won 25-18, 25-15, 25-18 at Skyline High in Mesa.

“This group is the second generation of a lot of younger brothers of a group that was in the 2018 title game,” ALA Queen Creek coach Tim Zemp said. “For these guys, it’s been on their mind coming in as freshmen and sophomores wanting to do what their older brothers couldn’t. But this is a group that’s been working years and years and years at their craft, and I think it was on full display today.”

Zemp’s 17-1 squad, which dropped only two sets this season to 4A teams, overpowered another opponent with its array of weapons and size.

Isaiah Harris, a 6-5 middle blocker, can physically take over. Jarod Bryce, a 5-9 outside hitter, is fun to watch while jump serving or lifting off from the outside.

Bryce and Harris tallied the final touches to their program’s first championship victory with the help of another star, setter Roc Lundell. The sophomore had no choice but to use just his right hand on a pass close to the net to feed Bryce on the outside for the second to last point.

The match ended when Harris put away a Lundell set off a block, triggering the post-match celebration for ALA Queen Creek and its fans. During the match, Harris also was quick to congratulate a Northwest Christian player if they made a great play. 

“I think all the teams that played before us would be proud,” Harris said.

Harris and his team never called a timeout in the match.

The senior set the tone early with his serving in Game 1 to jump ahead 7-4. The 6-5 Elijah Hamstra had two early blocks and a couple of kills from the left pin, and an up-and-coming player, freshman Jack Hubbard, also helped keep Northwest Christian in the game.

But Bryce then collected point No. 15, 16 and 18 with aces, leading to a Northwest Christian timeout. The timeout seemed to slow down ALA Queen Creek a bit, but kills by middle blocker Micah Ferrin, junior Colton Morris and Harris ended Northwest Christian's comeback attempt.

In Game 2, digs by Lundell and libero Jett Hall helped open the scoring for ALA Queen Creek. Morris’ turn to shine came when he got two kills on the right to put his team up 14-7.

ALA Queen Creek kept building the lead until the very end of the second game. Northwest Christian’s best spurt came during the opening minutes of the final game.

Senior middle Ben Strawn flashed his power on a couple of kills. But ALA Queen Creek’s blocking game helped get its offense back on track.

Back-to-back blocks by Harris and Bryce left Northwest Christian trailing 15-11 and sparked an 8-2 run, which ALA Queen Creek used to grab control.

“We’ve all been best friends for four years,” ALA Queen Creek captain Mason Price said. “We all love each other. We are here to spread the ball around.”

Northwest Christian finished its most successful season in the program’s history with a 16-1 record after reaching its first ever championship match.

“In our sophomore year we were 5-13,” Northwest Christian captain Cory Poulos said. “Our junior year we had our season taken away because of COVID, but that didn’t stop us. We kept working hard. We couldn’t have asked for a better team and better season. It just shows how far we’ve come and how much we’ve grown and gotten better.”

Northwest Christian