Adam Maggard is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Leading Edge Academy for AZPreps365.com

The San Tan Charter Roadrunners convincingly defeated the Leading Edge Spartans 3-0 in their match Monday.

The Spartans came into this matchup looking for an upset on one of the best teams in the conference that currently holds a 12-game win streak with a 25-16, 25-22, and 25-13 for San Tan.

For the Spartans, this matchup was their last home game of the season and their Senior Night.  

The gym was packed early, with many fans and parents coming to show support for the Spartans. For Spartans player Mirabella Triano, this game had a lot of meaning, being the only senior on this young Spartans roster. 

The match started out close, with the first set being scored 25-16 after the Roadrunners started to run away with it towards the end of the set.

The thing that hurt the Spartans the most tonight was their lack of communication. There were many missed plays and given up points on miscommunications tonight they will look to work that out a bit before their next game against the San Carlos Braves on Wednesday.

The second set was the best set for the Spartans they showed lots of fight and they had a spark. Ultimately, they lost the set 52-22 after closing the Roadrunners lead to 23-22 late in the second set after two aces in a row by freshman Audrina Vega. 

“Honestly, what we could have done better towards the end was we kinda collapse a little," Spartans junior Hayley Foster said. "We got in our heads, we started to blame each other a little bit. And moving our feet, we were obviously a little gassed and a little tired, but nothing a little practice can’t fix.” 

The final set was the worst set for the Spartans, who struggled to keep up with the fresh legs of the Roadrunners, ultimately losing the set 25-13.

All was not lost as Leading Edge was able to get some beneift from playing a very good team tough for the first two sets.

“Growth and fight it was really good to see the girls demonstrate their fight and how much they have grown,: assistant coach Carlee Smith said. "San Tan is one of the best teams in the region, and so coming back after the last time we played them, it was like 8-25. So the first two sets, taking them to 20 and challenging them, was really awesome. Third set, they had a lot of fresh bodies and we don't have that, so you could see we were lacking in conditioning. And so if we're going to have to play all the way around five sets, we need to keep improving on that.”

Despite losing tonight, the Spartans should keep their head up, they are a young team with lots of promise. They just need to continue to develop and work on some of the things they have struggled with as a team this season.

“I’ll say that we really were caught up like we really were close we weren't 1-10 like we really put our effort into this game,” said Armani Ramirez when asked her biggest takeaway from the match. 

One thing Ramirez emphasized is the importance of encouragement. 

“Encouragement is important because some people can really get down on a mistake but it's really fine really just know that everyone can be ok and make mistakes it’s fine,” she said. 

For the Spartans, making mistakes and continuing to learn will be the best thing for the team, as they are still very young and have lots of time to build and develop.

The Spartans showed signs of fight in this matchup and will look to continue to work off that as they go into their next match this coming Wednesday.