Niah Jackson is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover North Canyon High School for AZPreps365.com

The Rattlers played their last match of the season against the South Mountain Jaguars October 25 in Phoenix.

After falling to the Jaguars in a 3-0 sweep on October 3, the Rattlers were looking to see if they could beat them this time around.

However, that was not the case. South Mountain won, 25-15, 25-19, 25-13, dropping North Canyon to 3-14 in the season-ending contest.

“I’m sad that the season is over, especially since I’m a senior,” said defensive specialist Ryanna Martinez, adding that it was the little things that caused them to lose. “It was my last time playing with these girls that I have made so many memories with.”

North Canyon had a rough start and let the Jaguars get on the board, due to a ball being shanked, making the score 1-0. During the first few opening points, the Rattlers and the Jaguars went back and forth in terms of points. The Rattlers took a 4-3 lead, however, the Jaguars started to get fiery, getting many kills and receiving points off of Rattlers’ errors.

Outside hitter Jonni Brown got her first kill of the set, then turned around and got another kill off of a tip. But even with the kills, the Rattlers were still struggling to gain points, making it 12-6. The Jaguars kept the Rattlers out of system, but head coach Kinsey Pease called a timeout at 18-10 Jaguars.

Outside hitter Linayah Garcia then served an ace to get the Rattlers to 19-12 Jaguars. Brown hit into a double block, but the second time around, she hit a soft roll shot to get her third kill. Middle blocker Grecia Herrera-Chavez went on a two-serving streak to score for the Rattlers, but the Rattles still ended up losing the first set 25-15.

Setter Alexis Smith opened up the second set with a serve, but lost the point. The Rattlers were struggling early to dig balls of off attacks from the Jaguars, making the score 5-1 Jaguars. Pease called a timeout, and afterward, Herrera-Chavez went on a three serving streak which was good coming out of the huddle. Middle blocker Era’Kiya Dismuke and right side Charlie Rhew put a double block against Jaguars outside hitter, then gave an overkill hit/tip to put the Jaguars ahead 10-7.

The Rattlers struggled defensively in this set, making service errors, and minor game errors that cost them points. This put them in a 11-point deficit. North Canyon finally won the ball back off of a service error from South Mountain.

But North Canyon defensively was not there. Outside hitter Lanee Domokos got a kill, giving the Rattlers some energy to bring them back into the game. Libero Chelsea Perez-Morales went on a four-serve streak, closing the score to 24-14.

However, the Jaguars started to struggle and make errors, causing them not to be able to close out the second set. The Rattlers crawled back and got some more points, making the score 24-19. But the Jaguars eventually closed out on the second set 25-19, caused by a ball landing out of bounds from the Rattlers.

The first point from the Rattlers in the final set was scored from a ball being out of play. Smith served the ball back, but it was a service error. Domokos served an ace – her first one of the match. However, both the Jaguars and Rattlers had a lack of energy in the third set, compared to the last two sets.

Dismuke got her second kill of the match, and the Rattlers took the lead 6-5. They were gaining more confidence, but still made the small errors that caused them to lose points.

The Jaguars tied it up 7-7. But South Mountain went on a six-point win streak from North Canyon errors. North Canyon struggled to communicate, costing them many points. The Rattlers end up losing 25-13.

Right side hitter Sofia Juarez said she improved over the past season and was happy to share her senior year with her teammates.

“It’s sad that we lost today, but I’m still happy with how we played this year and this game today,” Juarez said. “I would honestly do it over again, just to play with my girls again one last time."