It is hard to imagine when teams play 40 matches in the same conference that they did not meet at least once during the season. That was the case with perennial 5A-I contender Desert Vista and on-coming Desert Ridge Thursday night in the state girls volleyball quarterfinals. Desert Vista was not a region champ, but paid its dues in the Fiesta Region with the likes of state tournament qualifiers Xavier, Hamilton and Red Mountain. That experience and an adjustment midway through the match helped in rallying from two games down as the No. 4 seeded Thunder recorded a 24-26, 19-25, 25-12, 25-18, 15-12 win over the No. 12 Jaguars.

Skyline High football has endured a miserable year. Its 0-10 record tells that story. With one game left in the 2010 season, the Coyotes hope to salve the wound of a winless season and its past 17 overall. That final chance comes Friday night at home against Casa Grande, who like Skyline, was winless until the Cougars took home a 21-19 win over Alhambra last week.

It has arrived. The final weekend of regular-season action in 5A and 4A football with some region titles and many playoffs spots yet to be determined.

State swimming and diving championships. All at one site. All the same day. And forgive the pun, but the competition is not watered down. With state meets now consolidated into two for boys and girls (Division I and Division II) down from five in recent years, the race for individual titles will be as keen as it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s been in a long, long time.

Basha did what others haven\\\'t in the past fiive years. The Bears handed Corona del Sol a 5A-I first-round state girls volleyball tournament defeat, coming back from a 2-1 deficit to beat the Aztecs, 25-27, 25-21, 12-25, 25-14, 15-6 at Basha High.

Xavier begins its bid for a fourth straight 5A-I state girls volleyball championship Tuesday night with a revamped lineup that has continued to win although more laboriously than earlier in the season.

State Boys, Girls Golf Tournament Capsules for Oct. 29-30

If you live in the East Valley there are too many choices concerning what football game to watch Friday night. Pull one out of a hat, go and enjoy.

The Desert Ridge girls volleyball team wanted nothing better than to keep the momentum of the last couple seasons going Tuesday night as the 2010 regular season winds to a close. For the Jaguars that means trying to qualify for the state tournament for the third year in a row.

Although the elite bracket was won by an out-of-state school, powerful La Jolla (Calif.) Country Day, girls volleyball players from seven Arizona schools (eight in all) were selected to the 21-member, all-tournament team at last weekend\'s Nike Tournament of Champions girls volleyball tournament held in Chandler, Gilbert and Tempe.

Last season in their 4A-I Desert Sky battle, Apache Junction chewed up Queen Creek at the line of scrimmage rushing for 480 yards and giving up only 56 yards on the ground in a 52-14 win over the Bulldogs. That grinding out of real estate came after Queen Creek grabbed a quick 14-0 lead in the first period against the Prospectors. The outcome Friday night was reversed in slightly different fashion.

Someone was going to win two in a row Thursday night at the 5A team badminton championship. The question: Would it be Xavier or Chaparral? The Firebirds answered in the affirmative and are state champs after beating the Gators, 5-2, in the title match at Horizon High School.