Ben Davis is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Cactus Shadows High School for AZPreps365.com

PHOENIX – Cactus Shadows remained unbeaten Thursday night with a sweep of Marcos de Niza on the road. After a competitive 25-17 first set, the Falcons found another gear, pulling away for 25-16 and 25-7 wins to improve to 8-0 on the season.

Junior Katie Matson emerged as a surprising offensive contributor, delivering an eight-point serving run in the third set that helped close out the match. Before Thursday’s game, Matson had played only two sets this season and had not recorded any offensive statistics.

“I kind of wanted to prove I could do it,” Matson said. “I’m a bench-rider a lot, so I wanted to prove I could show my worth on the court. I’m just glad I did good and made all my serves.”

Cactus Shadows coach Jeff Dumbrell said he wasn’t surprised by Matson’s performance, highlighting her consistent effort in practice.

“She’s been working so hard in practice,” Dumbrell said. “We have a really deep 17-person roster, so getting everyone in all the time is hard. But when [players] get opportunities and take advantage of them, it’s awesome.”

Senior Karease Broecker, who has verbally committed to Western Colorado University, continued her dominant season. The 6-foot-2 outside hitter has recorded 115 kills and 20 blocks this season, and her offensive presence was shown again against the Padres.

“We struggled finding our groove a little at the beginning tonight,” Broecker said. “But coming out and staying together as a team gives us confidence going in against Arcadia, who we took to five sets last game.”

The Falcons  started slowly in the first set, falling behind 0-4, but rallied to tie it 9-9 before going on a five-point run and finishing the set 25-17. Dumbrell said he wasn’t pleased with the early performance but made adjustments between sets.

“I’m not going to tell you exactly what I said, but I told them they need to play better volleyball and not worry about who’s on the other side,” Dumbrell said. “Our biggest issue is that we are our own worst enemy most of the time. We get in our own way by playing down to the level of the other side. 

”That’s been the talk all season: take care of the ball on our side of the net. I don’t care if it’s the best team or the worst team – we need to do the same thing on our side.”

Cactus Shadows found its rhythm early in the second set and never let up, earning its fifth sweep of the season while protecting its perfect record.

Cactus Shadows (8-0) hosts Arcadia (3-3) on Monday at 6 p.m. 

Marcos de Niza (3-4) hosts St. Mary’s (3-3) on Monday at 6 p.m.