Xavier College Prep Volleyball

We all know who the best team in the state is right now. It's like asking why people eat bacon. It's obvious.

We didn't need to see Phoenix Xavier Prep beat Gilbert, 25-17-, 25-22 Saturday night at Mesa Westwood High in the Westwood Tournament of Champions gold division title match. What we didn't know is how good Xavier Prep really is.

On Saturday, Xavier Prep showed it has weapons even beyond setter Bianca Arellano (who had more than 20 assists), hitter Abby Hornacek (eight kills, five in the first game), middle blockerMegan O'Sullivan (five kills) and libero Ana Panagiotakopoulos. Senior middle Allison Brady (three kills and three blocks) is stepping up. And sophomore hitters Mia Teilborg (three blocks and seven kills, five in the second game) and Danielle Westfall (five kills) are combining to fill the hole left by All State-caliber senior Kat Schulz, who decided not to play this year.

 "That's what we were hoping," Xavier Prep coach Tim McHale said of Teilborg's and Westfall's emergence.  Xavier Prep had at least six players record two kills in the first game. But Gilbert didn't help themselves, with eight unforced errors (including five service errors, which were due in part to Gilbert trying to serve aggresively to get Xavier Prep out of its offensive rhythm).

 "We learned that we have some things to work on for sure," Gilbert coach Joe Hesse said. "We're not quite in Xavier's class quite yet. You can't make mistakes against them. " Gilbert, which was led by Penina Snuka's 10 kills (seven in the second game) and Macey Gardner's five kills, elminated most of its errors in the second game and took an 8-6 lead. But Xavier Prep went on a 12-4 run to take the lead for good. Snuka accounted for five points in a late run that helped Gilbert come within two points, 23-21, but Xavier Prep would finish the game on kills from Hornacek and O'Sullivan.

 (ITL's quick observations: We all know Snuka and Gardner hit hard. But WOW. Snuka is a dynamo. And Gardner is the hardest hitter I've ever seen since covering Arizona prep volleyball the last six years, that's including former Sunnyslope star Madison Kingdon, who is now UA's top hitter. You just never know what Arellano is going to do, which makes her even more dangerous. May be best all-around player in the state. Hornaceck is a consistent, accurate hitter and hardly makes an error anywhere on the court.)