Sara Abbott is an Arizona State University student assigned to cover Brophy College Preparatory for AZPreps365.

The Brophy Broncos swept the Valley Vista Monsoons with an explosive offense to kick start the volleyball season on Monday.

The Broncos (1-0) started their season with a bang defeating the Monsoon (0-1) in straight sets, 25-6, 25-8, 25-18. The Broncos dazzled with a team hitting percentage of .342 and 17 aces to dominate the match. 

“We talked about not making simple mistakes,” Brophy coach Tony Oldani said. “We have a ton of new guys, and I think everyone can leave tonight knowing they made some positive plays.”

Riley Oldani made his debut as a Bronco with two aces in a row to start the first set. The freshman led the Broncos on a 7-0 run in the first set to set the tone for the rest of the match. The Broncos maintained control by limiting unforced errors on their side of the net.  

“We didn’t make as many mistakes for it being our first game,” senior setter John Grindey said. “Usually we come out rusty for our first game, but we came out well and were able to go on long serving runs.” 

The aggressive serving from the Broncos made it difficult for Valley Vista to remain in system, resulting in the Monsoon sending over freeballs to the Broncos. Brophy capitalized on this by making quick-tempo offensive attacks. 

“Being the first game of the season, a lot of people got to play and we got a lot of things achieved,” junior middle blocker Oldani said. “Our passing was really on tonight, so we got to run a lot of things.”

In the second set, junior opposite hitter Desi Burrage connected with Grindey on the pin with a kill down the line.  Brophy channeled the momentum to finish the  second set, 25-8.

“These are tough matches to maintain that kind of energy,” Oldani said. “That’s one of our primary focuses coming out of this is to find a way to continue to push.”

The Broncos’ season began with adversity after starting senior middle blocker Jack McGrath was out with a potentially season-ending injury. Brophy had to rely on sophomore middle blocker Nick Demaerschalk to step up in the season opener. 

“Nick showed us a lot of really good things in tonight’s match, and I think we are in a good place,” Oldani said. “ If we may end up losing McGraff, we have a nice young middle that we can build up.”

Demaerschalk had three kills with seven attempts and finished the match with a .500 hitting percentage for the Broncos. Oldani said he wants the team to work on getting the hitters more involved.

The Broncos will face Mountain Ridge High School on Thursday in Glendale.