The Independence High School varsity volleyball team secured their fourth win in a row this season after their 3-0 sweep against the Moon Valley Rockets on Thursday.

While the Patriots maintained control of the ball both defensively and offensively on the court, the real battle came off the court from the head coaches.  

Rockets head coach and former freshman Patriots coach Christy Wiley said tonight's match was a friendly competition but because she and Patriots head coach Michelle Monaghan are friends there was definitely a desire to win.

"We were definitely playing hard even though it wasn't a conference game," Wiley said. 

On the other hand, Monaghan said the fact that the team was playing against one of their former coaches was huge. 

"They were excited, they were pumped and I think in the end they (Rockets) thought that it was going to be a much closer game than it ended up being but they came out alive, they came out ready to play," said Monaghan.   

As for the match itself, Patriots sophomore outside hitter Railey Dykstra lead the team with her cannon serve that earned defining leads in all three sets.

Dykstra was given four shots to serve in the first set with the Rockets only to return the first two out of bounds and the third resulted in miscommunication from the Rockets, giving the Patriots a 10-2 lead.      
 
A crucial dig saved the Rockets during Dykstra's fourth serve but they were unable to come back and lost the first set 25-14.

During the second set Dykstra was given another opportunity from her three serves to gain a 21-14 lead for her team.

After the Rockets called a timeout, things start to turn around for them momentarily. 

"The coach was just telling us that we have so much more potential than what we were playing," said Rockets senior defensive specialist Jenna Dodgson. "We can compete with teams like this but we need to realize that we play as a team and we need to start talking to each other." 

The Rockets were able to earn three more points but came up short 25-17 in the second set. 

At the beginning of the third set the Rockets took a 4-1 lead only to have Dykstra come in with three straight serves for a 4-4 tie. 

"My serve, it actually took me a while to perfect it to be able to get it consistently," said Dykstra. "I started only three years ago and when I first started I could barely serve over the net."

The Rockets trailed 14-10 and wouldn't quit.

"I get really frustrated at myself because I know that I could play a lot better than I'm doing," said Dodgson. "Sometimes it's a lot that I could do on my part that I'm not doing and I feel like I need to carry my part if I'm expecting the team to carry their part."  

But the Patriots went on to take 25-16 win in the third set. 

The undefeated Patriots are set to compete in the Mary Jo Goldey Volleyball Invitational at Lake Havasu High School on Saturday.