Gilbert High's volleyball team ended up notching a sweep of 5A San Tan Region rival and city rival Campo Verde on Tuesday night. One play on the mind of Tigers coach Joe Hesse came up quickly in a postgame chat.

Gilbert saw a 23-16 lead in the second melt to 23-21 prompting Hesse to call timeout. Hesse inserted junior hitter Ellie Schmidt, who promptly rewarded her coach with a run-stopping kill. A Sydney Mahon block followed for a 2-0 Tigers' lead in the match.

"Ellie made the play of the set," Hesse said. "She came in, did her job and that was that." Gilbert took the match by scores of 25-15, 25-21, 25-22 at Campo Verde High. The third-ranked Tigers are now 9-1 in power-ranking matches and 2-0 in region play. Campo Verde fell to 7-3, 1-2. 

The Tigers weren't pressed in the opening set as Campo Verde tried to settle in to the rivalry match. Set 2 seemed more of the same as Gilbert closed in on the 25th point, but the Coyotes put together a 5-0 run to close within 23-21. Kills by Campo's Addison Haluska and Gillian Bachali plus two Campo blocks and a Gilbert hittering error made it it anyone's set. before the Tigers settled for the 2-0 advantage.

Campo Verde stayed with Gilbert in the Set 3 as the teams shared small leads through the 15-point mark. The Tigers were sharp down the stretch getting kills from five players from the 15-13 mark (Mahon, Naia Stewart, Becca King, Elli Walker and Raegan Richardson). Campo  made a late run and fought off three match points before a service error finished the set and match.

Gilbert's Alex Johnson (4) sets for middle Sydney Mahon (16) to lower the boom. (AzPreps365 photo)

"Gilbert is a better team than we are," Campo Verde coach Tayler Bader said. "We made some adjustments and they countered every time. We didn't fold after being dominated the first set. We battled."

Stewart and Mahon, 1-2 for Gilbert in kills this season, were spot on. Stewart finished with 10 kills and Mahon had eight. Setter Alex Johnson produced 29 assists. On defense freshman Richardson came up big at the net with six blocks and libero McKenzie Schoenhardt had 20 digs. 

Campo Verde stat leaders on the attack were Haluska (14 kills) and Bachali (9 kills). Libero Beigh Alexander contributed 15 digs. Setters Laurelle Lewis (15 assists an 11 digs) and Hannah Van Winkle (13 assists) ran the Coyotes' offense.

Gilbert hosts Williams Field on Wednesday and then takes a week off for fall break. Campo Verde is finished with play before fall break and the the Coyotes and Tigers return to action Oct. 12.