ALA Gilbert North girls’ volleyball wins Arizona 4A state championship
Revenge is certainly sweet for the No.1 seed ALA Gilbert North girls’ volleyball team.
The Eagles downed No. 2 Estrella Foothills in the 4A State Championship 3-1 (23-25, 25-27, 26-24, 25-21) at Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum.
Last season, the Wolves knocked out the Eagles in the semifinals, but this year was a different story.
Estrella Foothills were the defending state champions coming into the game and in the first set the Wolves looked the part. The first set was back and forth with five lead changes. Aubrey Goodere and Sadie Snyder led the way for the Wolves with four kills apiece. Estrella Foothills squeezed out of the first set winning it, 25-23.
After the first set, it was all ALA Gilbert North. The Eagles won the next three sets to become state champions.
Eagles coach Matthew Pritulsky, knew his team had more to give after dropping the first set.
“I did not feel like we were playing up to our ability,” Pritulsky said. “I wanted the girls to really be a lot more aggressive and I felt like we were playing safe and by playing safe we were just missing.”
At the start of the second set, the Wolves picked up where they left off in the first set and started the second on a 5-0 run. The Eagles settled into the game and took a 16-13 lead to force an Estrella Foothills timeout. The Wolves had 10 errors in the set, which allowed the Eagles to capitalize. ALA Gilbert North won the second set by the largest margin of the game 25-17.
Senior outside hitter for ALA Gilbert North, Dissy Brinkerhoff was the go-to all afternoon. Brinkerhoff ended the game with 23 kills. The senior was determined to end her career on a high note, and she did that and more.
“This is my last indoor game I’ll ever play so it’s just like giving it your all,” Brinkerhoff said.
Estrella Foothills sophomore, Sadie Snyder made the third set interesting. The Eagles were on track to win back-to-back sets, but Snyder went on a run all by herself to eventually tie the set 24-24. Snyder recorded four crucial kills in the set, but the Wolves were unable to complete the comeback. Snyder had a total of 12 kills in the contest.
The Wolves won in straight sets last season against the Eagles in the semifinals. ALA Gilbert North did not forget about the loss that ended its season. ALA Gilbert North flipped the script this year and left its imprint on the game that mattered most.
“It feels great,” Pritulsky said. “We’ve got a really kind of senior lineup, so they remembered that well and it was important for them to come back and kind of show everybody what they are made of.”
Eagles players embraced each other, some of them with tears falling down their faces. This team knew something was different about this season and that a championship title was on the horizon.
ALA Gilbert North has come up just short of making the state championship the last couple of years. This win meant a lot for the whole team and the emotion was evident but, the seniors soaked it in a little bit more.
“It’s loud, you can see it in their faces and this school hasn’t been around a long time, but they’ve gotten so close so many times already that just to get over the hump meant a lot to these seniors,” Pritulsky said.
Brinkerhoff has been anticipating the day she would be lifting the state championship trophy at the end of the season.
“It means everything,” Brinkerhoff said. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long and we’ve made it to semis twice and we finally made it to states, so it’s just amazing being able to win it.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ALA Gilbert North girls’ volleyball wins Arizona 4A state championship
