Estrella Foothills is headed to the semifinals.

That it did so with 10 new players this season was unexpected, but the 4A defending champ is becoming adept at making state title runs. It reached the final four for the fourth time in the past five years after defeating visiting Saguaro 25-23, 25-18, 21-25, 25-13 Monday.

Estrella Foothills also reached the 30-win mark for the second consecutive year, a first for the program. The No. 2 seed will host No. 6 Salpointe Wednesday with a berth to Friday’s 4A title game at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum at stake.

Salpointe handed Estrella Foothills (30-1) its only defeat this season.

“That’s awesome, especially after losing 11 seniors last year,” said Estrella Foothills’ nine-year coach Jennifer Gonzales about returning to the semifinals. “But these girls had a goal in mind that they wanted to make it back to the state finals.”

Saguaro may have lost, but it also made a big statement this season under first-year coach Jherra Wilson.

It reached the playoffs and won 20 matches for the first time in seven years and won a region title for the first time in almost a decade.

“This is an incredibly special team,” Jherra said. “It was an honor and a privilege to coach them. There was a bunch of buy in. They trusted me. I trusted them. We were able to make history over and over again, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Jherra’s squad didn’t appear intimidated at the start, when it jumped ahead 7-2 to start the match.

But a fabulous dig by Allison Caton and solo block by Emma Sanchez in the middle then helped spark a 6-0 run by the home team. The opening set was tied 21-21 when a Saguaro hitting error allowed the Wolves to take a lead it kept during the remainder of the game.

Estrella Foothills went up 13-8 in Game 2 despite a great dig by Saguaro setter Maddie Tately during a rally that ended with Aubrey Goodere crushing a Toto Carter set in the middle.

The 6-3 Goodere tallied 19 kills in 32 attempts (.531 hitting percentage) during the match. The second set was tied at 16-16 before Estrella Foothills went on a 9-2 run to capture the second set.

But Lexi Mallonee-King, Braelyn Marshall and Ava Coton didn’t allow its Saguaro team to get swept. The trio stepped up on the outside consistently in the third game.

Saguaro sophomore Mea Bystrom also got her bench players to jump out of their seats after a powerful swing from the right side. That was followed by setter Maddie Tately’s two handed back set that purposely went over the net to an open spot on the court late in the third set.

An Estrella Foothills mishit then closed that set in Saguaro’s favor. But Estrella Foothills bounced back immediately in the final set.

An Autumn Hill ace put the Wolves up 9-3 and a blast by outside hitter Sadie Snyder just inside the 10-foot line seemed to give the Wolves the following point as well. But an Estrella Foothills player touched the net on the play.

Not a problem. Snyder then moved to right side and strong armed another set straight down, this time for a point.

Down 19-8, the 5-6 Tately gave Saguaro a shot of energy when she blocked an outside hitter, but that didn’t faze the Wolves. They responded with a Sanchez kill, and Iliana Brown and Hill then somehow kept the ball in play after it went off the net to help give their team a 20-11 lead.

There was no denying Estrella Foothills after that. Junior Emma Curry and Allison Caton collected 18 and 16 digs, respectively, for the Wolves.

“We completely rebuild our team, but I think we’ve done it really well,” Sanchez said. “I think it just took a lot of communication between everyone.”

This year's Saguaro Sabercats (in white) helped put their program back on the volleyball map. (Photo courtesy of Vianey Garcia)