Liam Hamm is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Gilbert Classical Academy for AZPreps365.com

ELOY - The short-handed Gilbert Classical Academy Spartans defeated the Santa Cruz Valley Dust Devils in a competitive, back-and-forth, 3-1 match on Thursday night.

The Spartans were missing standout libero Ava Fay due to an academic obligation, but still won in four sets, 25-11, 25-10, 24-26, 25-18 in a 2A non-region match. 

They hardly missed a step.

The Spartans (6-2 overall) dominated the first two sets and went on long runs to pull away early in the set.

They led 10-8 in the first set when Evgenia Tsiranidou started serving and didn’t stop until Gilbert Classical was up 19-8, when the Dust Devils took a timeout to regroup. It ended a run of 12 points. 

“I think just playing our normal game and not playing down to the level of our opponent; playing set to set,” Sammi Spellman, GCA’s junior varsity volleyball coach, said of the strong start.

The Spartans won despite the efforts of Dust Devil senior Gianna Lopez, who tried repeatedly to put her team back in a position to win. 

Ultimately, it wasn’t enough as several GCA players such as Noelle Strait Constandse, Caitlin Chua and captains Maria-Felicia Cristobal and Madeleine Matthews stepped up to help their team win. 

“They played well together for a team missing its libero…it didn’t turn out too bad. They did their jobs,” said Janie Tomasek, GCA’s varsity coach.

Tomasek led GCA to a 20-8 record last season, and its first AIA State Girls Volleyball Championship appearance since 2019, where it lost in the first round.

Although the Spartans started strong, the third set was extremely close and Santa Cruz (1-5) refused to be swept.

In the closest set of the match, Cristobal tied the score at 20 with a block against two attackers and gave her squad a 22-21 lead after a kill attempt. 

The energy was palpable as the score was tied, and the audience erupted after the Dust Devils scored twice in a row to get within one point of winning the third set.

With no room for error, Chua dropped in a beauty right past the front line and GCA tied it at 24 right afterwards, but a failed block attempt gave the lead to Santa Cruz and a missed ball gave them the Dust Devils their first set win of the night, 26-24. 

“I think we kinda just got in our heads a little bit,” said Matthews about the third set. 

The Spartans scored five points in a row and took a 12-9 lead in the fourth set until Santa Cruz's coach Leticia Tarango called timeout. 

GCA wanted to close out the game, but the Devils just wouldn’t go away. They kept placing their hits in the right spots and defending their court well. 

Chua’s serving helped GCA take a 19-12 lead and Cristobal’s blocking was crucial in the fourth set. 

The Spartans had trouble putting the game away, though, and they called a timeout after the Devils scored five straight of their own. The Santa Cruz crowd was loud and confident. 

GCA, just two points away from a match victory, had given away possession but they got a clutch block from Taylor Perry and an enormous kill from Matthews before closing out the game on a nice kill from Perry, 25-18.

“We were without our lib[ero] and second setter so it was kind of a challenge without them today, but we were still able to keep up the energy and we were able to pull through and get that win,” Matthews said.