Aiden Blanc is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Arizona Lutheran for AZPreps365.com

Few teams in the state of Arizona have played as well at home as Arizona Lutheran, yet a Heritage Academy team, which entered the match below .500 gave ALA all it could handle through the first set on Tuesday night.

The Coyotes struggled to pass and set; they trailed multiple times, but after the opening set was done, they flipped a switch and cruised to their second sweep in three matches.

Arizona Lutheran Academy went on to win the match, 25-22, 25-17, 25-11.

“We’ve played well against Heritage in the past,” said Coyotes coach Brad Bode, “They’re our rivals, and I don’t think we were quite ready to come in and play hard tonight.”

Heritage entered the night in search of just their third road win of the season, but controlled a good chunk of the first set and had a chance to lock it up, leading 19-16.

But ALA has 27 wins for a reason, and its experienced group rallied off seven straight points, taking the lead and eventually the set.

“It tested our ability to stay at our level of play,” said junior Kailey Peter. “Staying consistent is probably the most important thing for this group.”

Despite a tough finish in set one, Heritage hung around for most of set two, trading most of the early points with its opponent. But once again, the Coyote leadership came together and put the team on their back, this time in the form of eight straight points that ballooned their lead from 12-9 to 20-9 in a matter of minutes.

That run put Arizona Lutheran back into gear, and the group which has now won 12 of their last 13 sets at home looked like its usual selves again.

“We were kind of fighting against ourselves and not working together as a team,” said senior Saige Gomez. “In the third set we really came together and everyone was doing their piece.”

The talent is there for Arizona Lutheran to make its deepest tournament run since winning their lone state title in 2014, but mental preparedness is not optional starting next week, when every match is single elimination.

“I told them we need to have a really good practice tomorrow,” Bode said. “We need to start up here intensity wise; keeping the highest level for a full two hours of practice.”

ALA closes out its regular season with Senior Night on Thursday against NFL Yet, a local academy who has lost all 14 of its matches this year and will be playing the third match in as many days.

After Thursday it’s full steam ahead to either the play-in round or the first round of the state tournament.

“After Thursday, we’re waiting for our final seeding, and then five practices next week to get them going and get them ready for state,” Bode said.

While final seeding for the tournament has yet to be determined, ALA is in strong position to be one of eight teams that moves past the play-in round and starts the tournament in round one as a top eight seed.

They Coyotes entered Tuesday’s game as the sixth seed. Should they have to play the extra match, it would be a home game, giving them the advantage of playing in a building where they have only lost once this year and in front of a rabid pack of fans who have consistently shown up throughout the season.