Daniel Ochoa is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Xavier College Preparatory for AZPreps365.com

Xavier Prep enters this weekend’s Nike Tournament of Champions (TOC) in the G Pool of the  elite division with potential of playing in the Platinum or Gold Bracket Championships.

Xavier’s first match is Friday, Oct. 1, at 11:45 a.m. against South Anchorage, the #1 ranked team in Alaska, according to MaxPreps, followed by two afternoon matches against California teams Los Alamitos (#71 in California) and Archbishop Mitty (#14 in California).

The only prior history Xavier has, is with Mitty, in which they are tied in their two-match history 1-1 with Xavier’s victory coming in 2015 (2-0) and Mitty's in 2016 (2-0).

The Gators need to finish in the top two in their pool to advance to the Platinum/Gold Bracket where they will have the potential of playing against the #1 ranked team in Nevada, Bishop Gorman, Cornerstone Christian (#32) out of Texas, Ontario Christian (#93) out of California, and Arizona’s Mountain View (#16).

Xavier only has one previous match against Bishop Gorman from 2018, when they lost in three sets (2-1) in a Las Vegas tournament.

“Bishop Gorman knocked us out of the top half of the tournament,” Xavier head coach Lamar-Renee Bryant said. “[I am] very familiar with Bishop Gorman, they’re always going to be a strong team, they’re always going to have talented players.”

Head Coach Lamar Bryant doesn’t intend on focusing on the future of the tournament, instead she turns her head towards the region match Thursday at Hamilton.

“Our goal is to come out on top of the region,” Bryant said. “Making sure we’re showing up as the best version of ourselves, so we’re ready to go and we’re focused.”

Seniors Emma Soderstrom, Tiffany Tellez, Isabella Sinacori, Alexa Shiner, and junior Kate Tax have all had experience at the Nike TOC and are primed to help lead the Gators to deep run in the tournament.

Both Soderstrom and Shiner are looking to play those leadership roles for the underclassmen who have yet to feel this high-level pressure and “be that rock for them,” as Shiner said, to ease the team match after match and give advice for a championship run.

“It is a little scary,” Soderstrom said. “It’s a lot different than the other tournament we’ve played so far this year just cause it is so much bigger … But really, it’s just kind of to slow down, play your game, do what you know how to do.

“Make sure that before every game we have the same focus no matter who’s on the other side of the team, whether it’s people you’ve never heard of, people on the high end of the tournament… no matter what just playing with full intensity.”

Freshman Olivia Lenz is looking to build off an already incredible season and take what she has learned into her first high-level tournament. She’s had a chance to compete against a strong Hamilton team once and is looking to gain a few more takeaways in Thursday’s match to help the team in the tournament.

“Expect the unexpected, just play more mature,” Lenz said. “Play like a senior, not a freshman who’s scared.”

With a strong warmup coming up Thursday against Hamilton, Xavier is hoping to use that match to determine their play in the Nike TOC and bring home another championship.