Alex Suarez is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Xavier College Preparatory for AZPreps365.com

The Corona del Sol Aztecs are set to participate in the Nike Tournament of Champions Southwest 2021 on Oct. 1-2. After a win at Desert Vista Thursday night, the Aztecs head into the tournament with a record of 7-3, 5-0 region. 

The 13th Annual Nike Tournament of Champions will showcase 96 of the top high school girls’ volleyball teams in the United States. Competition will be divided into three, 32-team divisions, each team will play at least seven matches over the course of two days. 

For the Aztecs, they will be in Pool C taking on Sacred Heart Academy (KY), West Anchorage (AK) and The Bishop’s School (CA). 

Aztecs head coach Ben Maxfield is entertained by all the competition his team will face this weekend and the outlook it has on the season going forward.

“I like that we get to play out of state competition and we just want to keep improving,” Maxfield said. “Our overall goal is to win state, so that's kind of our outlook."

The first match for the Aztecs will be against Sacred Heart Academy (KY). These two teams have met twice before, the most recent being five years ago when they met in the finals of the Nike tournament and Sacred Heart came out on top. 

Despite none of the girls on the current roster being there for that match, there is a little extra motivation heading into that first match against Sacred Heart Academy. 

“We had talked about it now and we were like, 'Okay, lets go beat them,'” Maxfield said. 

Two transfer students, junior setter Georgia Lee and junior outside hitter Kierstyn Barton, will be playing in their second match of the season this weekend. Maxfield and the Aztecs will look to improve as a whole and carry that into the latter half of the season.

“Getting them into the mix and keep getting better at our serving, passing and being efficient on offense. Every time we step on the court we just want to get a little bit better,” said Maxfield. 

The Aztecs will have all three matches on Friday, Oct. 1, at the Salvation Army KROC Center. They'll be taking on Sacred Heart Academy (KY) at 10:30 a.m., The Bishop’s School (CA) at 2:15 p.m. and West Anchorage (AK) at 3:30 p.m.. Seeding for Saturday’s matches will be determined by what place the Aztecs come out of in Pool C Friday.