Sierra Watson is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication student assigned to cover Mountain Ridge High School for AZPreps365.com

 

The Mountain Lions walked onto the court with excited smiles on their faces, ready to play a volleyball game. Their smiles never faded during the game. They huddled after every point and came out with a smile and gave each other high-fives, ready to shake off the loss of a point and try to win the next rally. 

The Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions lost their second 6A matchup 0-3 at Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, at 6 p.m. after failing to keep their momentum up throughout the match. 

“We’re not very disciplined in our skills, and when you play a really fast team like Pinnacle, you have to be disciplined,” Head Coach Jenna Hope said after the game on Wednesday. 

The Pioneers went on a 5-point service run that included two aces, lengthening their lead to 10-4 in the first set. 

Mountain Ridge began to fight back in the first set, one point at a time, until they let Pinnacle go on yet another service run, stretching the deficit to 10-17. 

“We just need to work on our discipline, because even when we had a huge lead, we let them score one point, and we just struggle getting that momentum back,” Libero Heejin Kim said. 

However, no matter what the score was, the girls encouraged each other to shake it off and focus on the next point. 

Keeping the energy up on the court helps the team communicate and look to the next point, setter Addison Devenney said. 

“It’s volleyball, we’re going to lose points, but knowing that our team is going to thrive off of energy keeps me going, because I want the best for my team,” Devenney said. “Just seeing how we play in good moments and what energy can do for how we play is important, and we need to just not give up.”

The Mountain Lions started off the second set with an 8-3 lead against Pinnacle. Mountain Ridge continued to battle, but ultimately lost momentum, and the Pioneers tied the game. 

The Pioneers then went on to win the set 25-17 to go up two sets to none. 

“We really focus on ‘next ball’ mentality, but we didn’t showcase that today,” Kim said.

The third set started off with Mountain Ridge falling 1-8. The Lions’ smiles began to fade until they started to pick up the momentum again with a long rally, making the score 7-15. However, that momentum was short-lived, and the Lions lost the third set 10-25, ultimately losing the match 0-3.

“It’s a matter of maturity, and once we can get there, we’re good players,” Hope said. “We just aren’t consistent in it, and that’s our struggle.”