PRESCOTT, Ariz. (September 5, 2025)

Today marks the first day of the Yavapai College Volleyball Invitational, and the Yavapai Volleyball team just won their first match of the tournament! Yavapai beat the Bears of Phoenix College in 4 sets, winning 3-1.

The Roughriders won the first set 25-17, and this was thanks to kills from nearly every rotation player in the set! Roughrider kills came from Destiny Matthews, Micah Gardner, Aubrey Parris, Skylar Schwartz, and even a fake-out from McKenzie Wright. On the defensive end, blocks came from Wright, Matthews, Parris, and Hédi Mayerhoffer. Mayerhoffer would also provide a service ace, as well as Mariah Leyva, and Wright came in clutch with a diving save near the end to seal the win!

The second set started off with a lot of Micah Gardner. Within the first few points, she had back-to-back solo blocks, as well as a couple of major spikes! Other kills came from Valerie Sabalza, Skylar Schwartz, and Aubrey Parris. Yavapai's real strength this match came down to excellent serving, with aces coming from Sabalza, McKenzie Wright, Mariah Leyva, and the game-winning ace came from Jezebel Rivas! YC wins their second set 25-18.

Yavapai would go on to lose the third set 25-23, nearly coming from behind to steal the win. Kills came from Gardner, Parris, Wright, Matthews, and Schwartz, while Matthews and Gardner got up high for a couple of defensive plays. Even with a great Mayerhoffer ace near the end, Yavapai could not complete any sort of comeback in this set.

In the final set, Yavapai and Phoenix were battling back and forth for the lead. Matthews had two big blocks in the beginning of the set, and Mayerhoffer had 3 excellent kills alongside Matthews and Anouk van Kollenburg. After an ace from Wright, and a couple more kills from Sabalza, Schwartz, and Gardner, Yavapai won the final set 25-17, winning the match against Phoenix College 3-1!

UP NEXT

Yavapai's next match is later tonight at 5 pm vs. Midland College, their second game of the YC Volleyball Invitational!