Andrew Merklinger is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Xavier Prep for AZPreps365.com. 

Xavier Prep volleyball awards their seniors with an easy win on Tuesday night at home against Desert Vista. 

Xavier was strong and consistent throughout the contest as they swept sets, winning all three by a score of 25-12. 

Chineze Gray and Courtney Snopko led the gators in the first set as Gray amassed two serving aces, a dig and a kill while Snopko had two blocks and a kill. 

Mattea Saunders and Selah O’Connor joined into the serving aces party in the second set as they each had two and Saunders had eight of her team leading 17 digs in the set as well. 

Seniors Olivia Lenz and Jane Burkhardt closed it out with Lenz having six receptions, four digs and a kill while Burkhardt had 5 kills to end the night as she led the team with 10 total. 

An all-around effort by Xavier saw 40 kills, 39 digs, 27 assists, 26 receptions and 14 serving aces as the seniors took the prominent in the victory.  

The six honored seniors were Burkhardt, Gray, Lenz, Elle McCreery, Annemarie O’Gara and Snopko. Burkhardt, McCreery and O’Gara are already committed to playing college volleyball while the others weigh out options for the future. Burkhardt will be attending the University of Texas at Dallas, McCreery will travel east to Dartmouth college and O’Gara to the University of California, Berkeley. 

“It’s a wonderful night and our seniors mean so much to this program and we’re just really grateful for them and really happy for them and their families,” Xavier Prep Head Coach Lamar-Renee Bryant said about the celebration Tuesday night. “With a long tradition of senior night, it’s super important that these seniors are celebrated and go out on top. We’re a very capable one through 16 so I know the seniors could pull through for us tonight.” 

“The passing was great, and the vibes were really good on the court and that helped the energy and when the energy is good, we all come together and play well,” said McCreery. 

The matchup against Desert Vista saw the number one team in 6A Central in Xavier facing the bottom of the division which gave the idea that this could be a trap game coming off emotional wins against Sunnyslope and Corona del Sol.  

However, the team did not share this mindset and stayed strong throughout the game. 

“We all came in really confident, obviously we never underestimate our opponents, but we were all confident in our ability to get the win tonight,” said McCreery. 

“I was pretty confident in my team. In the beginning of sets we tend to start off slow, but we picked it up towards the end, so I was pretty confident throughout the whole match,” added Gray. 

Gray had an excellent senior night on Tuesday accounting for 4 serving aces, 3 kills, 3 total blocks and 3 digs. 

“It felt great especially on senior night with all my family here it felt really good,” Gray said. 

This game was Xavier’s 13th sweep in their 15 games of non-tournament play. The win helps their record grow to 15-0 in Arizona and 25-3 overall this year. 

The season will only continue to get tougher for Xavier with only three games remaining before playoffs and the players know that every game counts.  

“It’s honestly a big stress reliever. I feel like we got it done fast too in three sets which is always the goal. With the playoffs coming I feel like this gives us a lot of confidence and good vibes going into more challenging games knowing that if we can stay focused in this game then we can stay focused in a harder one,” said McCreery. 

Xavier will travel to Sunnyslope on Thursday where they will be making sure they are focused as they continue to be the top team in the 6A conference and 6A Central division. 

“It’s going to come down to serving and passing and we have to take care of the business and keep the ball in play. Mentally we need to be in it and make sure our highs aren’t too high, and our lows aren’t too low, but it’s really going to come down to a serve and pass game,” said Bryant.