No. 4 Mica Mountain outlasted No. 5 Arizona College Prep 3-2 Monday night to advance to the semifinal round of the 4A Conference to be played Wednesday night, where the Thunderbolts will take on top-seeded ALA-Gilbert North. The Eagles beat No. 9 Arcadia 3-1 to set up the semifinal match at home with Mica Mountain. No. 2 Estrella Foothills will host No. 6 Salpointe in the other semifinal.

The Thunderbolts took the first set over AZ College Prep 27-25 in an epic battle that saw Mica Mountain erase a 21-17 deficit to take a 23-22 lead. The Knights committed six service errors in the first set including a service into the net to start the run by the Thunderbolts. That was followed by an ace from Aubrey Necas and a kill from Addison Andrews to Aubrie Fellmeth to cut the lead down to 21-20. A shot from Addison Scott to the far corner put Mica Mountain up 23-22 moments later but the Knights came right back.

Ella Pallagi hit Ella Kraver to tie the set back up 23-23 and then Kaitlyn Harris scored to put the Knights up 24-23. A service error erased the first set-point opportunity for the Knights but Kendall Story put the Knights back up 25-24. Soso Okpara avoided the second set-point for the Knights on a kill to make it 25-25 and then Fellmeth scored at the net to put Mica Mountain up 26-25. The Knights failed to return the next serve and the Thunderbolts completed the comeback victory to go up 1-0.

Mica Mountain built a 22-17 lead in the second set and then held on despite a flurry of connections between Pallagi and Kraver to go up 2-0 on the 25-22 victory. The Knights flipped the narrative in the third set after scoring seven aces on Mica Mountain to go along with four service errors by the Thunderbolts to cut the score down to 2-1 on a 25-9 win.

Mica Mountain took a 9-6 lead in the fourth set but the Knights went on a 6-0 run to take control of the set 12-6. The Thunderbolts never bounced back from that run and the Knights tied the match up 2-2 with a 25-16 win.

The deciding set went back and forth early but Andrews took control of the court with several timely passes to Necas, Scott and Gigi Miller to put the Thunderbolts in control at 13-7. A violation put Mica Mountain up 14-7 and Fellmeth came up with a block for the 15-7 win and a 3-2 victory.

The Pallagi to Kraver combination was almost unstoppable at times with Pallagi finishing with 38 assists and Kraver collecting 20 kills. Abby Swogger added nine kills. Pallagi is headed to play for Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi. Andrews had 29 assists, Necas had 15 kills, Okpara had 11 and Fellmeth had seven.

NOTES: The Thunderbolts are only in their fourth year as a program and this is the first time the school has made a semifinal appearance. Scott and Breanna Castillo are the only seniors on the squad led by head coach Amy Johnson. Johnson leads Southern Arizona with 776 career victories in Arizona. Mike Shannon led the Knights to their first 4A playoff victory in the first round in only the second year since moving up from the 3A Conference.