Janiya Negron is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Heritage Academy Laveen for AZPreps365.com

After winning two straight region matches, Heritage Academy’s streak came to an end against Veritas Prep Academy Thursday night. 

The Heroes came across some struggles in trying to find their momentum throughout the match resulting in a three-loss, 25-5, 25-10, 25-11. 

Heritage Academy Laveen, a 2A Valley Region team coached by Edward Anderson, has experienced an up-and-down season so far in regards to its wins and losses. The Heroes have shown they can be aggressive and competitive when their tactics are executed well, but finding and keeping that consistency from match to match has been a challenge. 

Anderson spoke about challenges of tonight’s game and the lack of the team's continuity due to many of the players missing during practices this past week.

“Tonight we just didn’t perform up to our standards,” Anderson shared. “Just getting the ball up today for whatever reason, it wasn’t doing it for us. I don’t think they (Veritas Prep Academy) did anything special. It’s just us. We just gave them too many points.” 

Natalie Janca, an outsider and middle hitter for Heritage Academy, shared her positive thoughts on the team’s performance despite today’s loss.

“I think despite being so behind in the points, we still kept up our energy,” Janca shared. 

She also gave credit to her teammate, Valeria Valencia, in regards to her mishap during the game. 

“Valeria, specifically, got hit in the head and she shook it off,” Janca said. “I’m really proud of her.”

Veritas Prep Academy, a 2A Valley team coached by Brooks Dockter, continues with its strong winning streak of six games in a row throughout this season so far. 

Veritas Prep Academy girls volleyball team powered through and through from start to finish, maintaining consistency and aggressiveness throughout the entire match.

Despite making successful plays the the Falcons were also able to benefit from the Heroes' inconsistencies and mishaps using that to their advantage to take them out on all three sets. 

Bella Espinosa, a libero and occasional outside hitter for Veritas Prep Academy, shared her thoughts on the team's win. 

“Tonight’s game I think went really well for us, we just came back from fall break and so we were a little bit worried that we wouldn’t get back swinging, so really our focus for today was to put them away fast and that’s exactly what we did,” Espinosa exclaimed.

As an athlete going into every game against different opponents requires a different mindset and strategy for each game based on strengths and advantages a team can take. Espinosa shares what her team did to prepare for today's match against Heritage Academy Laveen.

“Going into this match we wanted to run the kind of things that maybe we wouldn't be able to run, kind of the things that maybe we wouldn't be able to run against another team,” Espinosa stated. “We ran a lot of new balls that we hadn’t practiced before and I think we wanted to see how we would execute that and we executed that really well so that was good.”

Overall, Heritage Academy improved its momentum and chemistry as a team. The Hereos showcased nothing but perseverance and their willingness to continue to fight and push through despite losing at times.