Jordy Fee-Platt is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Cactus High School for AZPreps365.com.

The Cactus girls volleyball team extended its win streak to four and improved to 7-1 with a four-set victory over Paradise Honors in Glendale on Wednesday.

The Cobras dominated in the third and fourth sets, winning the match 25-17, 17-25, 25-14, 25-14. 

Cactus was propelled to victory by their three senior captains – Rylea Simonich, Amanda Lauer and Katie Beehler, who combined to record 39 kills. 

Simonich and Lauer quickly made their presence felt in the opening set with three kills apiece on the team’s first six points won. The duo played off each other, with Simonich using her early success to set up Lauer later on. Simonich frequently deceived Paradise blockers into believing she was preparing to strike the ball, which freed up space for Lauer. 

“I’m just staying in front of all the blockers,” Simonich said. “As a hitter calling for the ball, it keeps them set on the net.” 

Fueled by six kills for Simonich and five for Lauer, the Cobras took the first set handily, 25-17. 

In the second frame, it was a different story. With the score sitting at 18-17, Paradise Honors tallied seven consecutive points to even the match at one set apiece. 

Freshman Ashlyn Persha provided excellent services as the setter, which Coach Megan Domingo credited for her team’s success in the second.  

“She really stuck out for us,” Domingo said. “I mean, we changed our whole defense because of how well she was doing.”

The third set was closely contested at first as the Cobras were unable to extend their lead. With the score 11-10, Cactus turned to Beehler, who expertly found an open space near the net for a kill. The Cobras then proceeded to win seven consecutive points to take control of the set.

This was just one example of Beehler coming through in high-stress situations for Cactus. With the score 12-10 in the first set, Beehler recorded four aces and a kill in five consecutive points to give her team momentum. 

In the fourth frame, with Cactus trailing 9-7, Beehler hit a perfectly placed dink shot into the left corner that no opponent could reach. The 5-foot-6 setter finished with a well-rounded stat line: six digs, seven kills and seven digs. 

The Cobras also relied on Simonich and Lauer to regain momentum after falling in the second set. The two 5-foot-11 hitters spiked the ball with tremendous power, something that intimidated Paradise Honors. 

“I think the second set we had them and then we just shut down mentally,” Domingo said. “They kept swinging really really hard on us, and we couldn’t set up our block as well as we normally could.”

Cactus Coach Jana Henige had a different perspective. She believed the mentality of her players produced the second-set struggles. Once their mindset changed, the momentum changed. 

“I feel like the match was always ours,” Henige said. “We just took a dip in the second set, which we do, and we haven’t had a lot of matches where we’ve had to battle like that. In the third set, they knew that it was time to get serious.” 

Lauer certainly took her coach’s advice to heart, getting stronger as the match went on. In the fourth set, she recorded eight kills, including five kills on the last 11 points to finish off the win. Lauer finished with 19 kills. 

The Cobras will now look ahead to their first sectional match of the season against Peoria (2-3) on Wednesday at 6 p.m., while Paradise Honors (5-4) will host Yuma (1-4, 0-1) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.