Mesa High began its defense -- three-time defense - of its 6A East Valley Region volleyball title Tuesday night and it went smoothly for the most part.

Mesa's fast start and with visiting Mountain View stuck in neutral for nearly the first two sets the Jackrabbits produced a 3-1 victory over the Toros. Scores were 25-8, 25-19, 15-25 and 25-22. 

Mesa (9-12 overall, 4-3 in power-ranking matches) lost to Mountain View in the House of Payne Invite on Sept. 7,  2-0. But Mesa kept another more important streak alive extending its domination of the Toros in power-ranking matches (best 3 of 5) to nine in a row. Mountain View (11-10, 5-3 prm) last beat Mesa in a power-ranking match in 2013.

The victory was a welcome one for Mesa coach Amy Strawn since it was her birthday and she was pleased with her team's performance in general.

"It's a nice birthday present for sure," Strawn said, who was serenaded with birthday wishes by the entire program prior to the start of the varsity match. "We played like we practiced for a change. 

Strawn felt the Jackrabbits were nervous at the start because when they lost to Mountain View nearly three weeks ago the Toros "served us off the court". 

But Mountain View committed errors on two of its first three serves to open the match and that seemed to ease the Jackrabbits' tension. The Toros sputtered on the attack nearly the entire first set to add to their woes and were blown out quickly for a 1-0 deficit.

Mesa led 24-14 late in the second, but Mountain View showed life with a 5-0 run as its play picked up dramatically in all phases. That carried over to the third set where the Toros were in control throughout. Mountain View served five aces in the set and were primed to give Mesa a run the rest of the way.

"Mountain View didn't play well early, but they started coming back in the second set,: Strawn said. "I called a timeout in the third set when it was 2-2 (3--2), I usually don't call one that early, but I don't like ugly volleyball. I wanted to nip that in the bud."

The fourth set was tight all the way with Mesa doing a better job of serve-receive (allowing one ace in the set). A dump kill by Mesa's Kate Hatch, one of many of that variety by the setter/hitter, put the match on ice.

Hatch led Mesa with 14 kills and dished 29 assists. Sophomore hitter Quincy Cummard checked in with 8 kills. Senior middle Brigit Carter came up big with four blocks and four kills. Senior libero Roma McEvoy led defensively with 21 digs.

Mountain View was led unofficially in kills by Reece Fischbeck and Hannah Decious with eight piece and Brekyn Goodman with seven.

Mesa is home again Wednesday facing Dobson while Mountian View plays host to Westwood.