Ironwood Ridge beat Salpointe 3-2 Thursday night on the road in dramatic fashion to tighten up the 4A Kino race. Salpointe came in as the top-ranked team in the 4A Conference with a 12-0 record in ranking matches and 4-0 in region play but the Lancers suffered the first loss of the season in matches that count towards power points and No. 4 Ironwood Ridge is now 9-2 in ranking matches and 5-1 in region play.

The Lancers beat the Nighthawks 3-1 on Sept. 30 at Ironwood Ridge and that victory was the fourth in a row over the Nighthawks dating back to 2017, although the programs did not play for seven years after 2017 due to Ironwood Ridge competing at the 5A level. Prior to 2017, the Nighthawks enjoyed a 7-0 streak over the Lancers from 2011 to 2016. The teams were in the same section briefly in 2015.

Although region standings have no bearings on playoff berths at the 5A level, the race for the Kino Region is tight with No. 4 Ironwood Ridge (5-1), No. 1 Salpointe (4-1) and No. 6 Mica Mountain (4-2) fighting for the top spot. The Thunderbolts lost to Salpointe and Ironwood Ridge earlier in region play at home but the team ends the regular season at Ironwood Ridge on Oct. 23 and at Salpointe on Oct. 27. The next set of rankings will be released Friday at noon.

Ironwood Ridge came out strong Thursday night with a 25-12 win in the first set with junior Ashlyn Quiri controlling the tempo with six kills and a block. The tempo continued in the second set with Quiri knocking down five more kills and two more blocks in a 25-10 win.

Down 2-0, Salpointe responded with an even attack across the net to take the third set 25-17. The Lancers took a 16-12 lead in the fourth set but Quiri put the Nighthawks up 20-19 on an assist from freshman Marcella Landers to cap off an 8-3 run. Senior Natalia Solomon tied the match up at 20-20 but Quiri scored two more times for a 22-20 lead. Senior Mia Bartfalvi came up with a block to cut the lead down to 22-21 but Quiri made it 23-21 and senior Isabela Kemper recorded a block to make it 24-21.

A service error erased one match-point to cut the lead down to 24-22 and then Salpointe cut the lead down to 24-23. Senior Caitlin Hurley hit Bartfalvi twice to put Salpointe up 25-24 and then senior Kiki Muehlebach served up an ace for the 26-24 win. The Lancers survived three match-points to force a deciding fifth set but the Nighthawks came out firing.

Kemper helped put Ironwood Ridge up 5-0 on a couple of blocks and a kill and Quiri scored to make it 10-5 later in the set. Sophomore Callie George scored the winning kill for a 15-7 set victory.

Solomon came up big for Salpointe with an unofficial nine kills to lead the team and her six kills in the fourth set helped keep the Lancers alive. Senior Brooklyn Burgle had 11 assists and Hurley had 13. For Ironwood Ridge, senior Lydia Litkenhus had 28 assists, Quiri had 17 kills and George added 12 more. Bartfalvi also had a strong match for Salpointe with five kills and four blocks. Kemper had five blocks.

Salpointe plays at Desert View (3-9) on Monday and Ironwood Ridge travels to Campo Verde (4-7) on Tuesday.