Set One 25-19/ Set Two 25-11 / Set Three 24-26 / Set Four 25-17

Higley - October 25, 2018

Casteel - October 18, 2018

Centennial - October 04, 2018

2018 5A AIA TOURNAMENT - Gilbert draws #5 Horizon in Round 1 of the State tourney. The match will be held on Tuesday, October 30, 2018 at 6:30pm, with Horizon hosting. 5-A BRACKETS

GILBERT FINISHES #12 IN FINAL AIA 5-A RANKINGS
http://www.azpreps365.com/rankings/volleyball-girls/5a

The Tigers finished #12 in the final AIA rankings. Teams that qualify for the state tournament include those ranked Nos. 1-8, and eight (8) conference play-in winners.

Conference Play-in: Casteel (#21) at Gilbert (#12) - October 25, 6:30pm
GILBERT WINS MATCH 3-1

5A 16-team bracket:
In order to qualify, a school must have scheduled a minimum of 14 games. Teams ranked No. 1 through No. 8 will earn an automatic bid to the state tournament. The conference play-in tournament will match up teams ranked No. 9 through No. 24.

Teams ranked No. 1 through No. 8, along with the eight winning teams from the conference play-in tournament, will make up the 16-team state tournament. The state tournament bracket will be seeded according to overall ranking of the 16 teams. The state tournament will consist of four rounds and be single elimination.

5A State Tournament dates:
First Round: Tue., Oct. 30, 2018, 6:30 p.m. @ High Seed Horizon tops Gilbert, 3-0
Quarterfinals: Thu., Nov. 1, 2018, 6:30 p.m. @ High Seed
Semifinals: Mon., Nov. 5, 2018, 5:45 & 7:45 p.m. @ CVHS
State Championship: Wed., Nov. 7, 2018, 6 p.m. @ ASU

Check out all the team and individual statistics
Attacking, Serving, Blocking, Digging, Ball Handling, Serve Receiving - on our MAXPREPS page.  

ANOTHER GREAT INVITATIONAL - Gilbert High volleyball hosted its annual Gilbert Invitational on Friday Oct. 5th and Saturday Oct. 6th. There were eight schools competing at Gilbert High: Basha, Corona del Sol, Gilbert, Hamilton, Highland, Mountain Pointe, Sunnyslope and Xavier Prep.

Xavier Prep posted the best record at the round-robin Gilbert Volleyball Invitational over the weekend. Xavier was 6-1, followed by Corona and Hamilton (5-2), Sunnyslope (4-3), Basha and Mountain Pointe (3-4), Highland (2-5) and Gilbert (0-7).

Gilbert captain destined for volleyball lifestyle since early childhood
October 2, 2018 by Gabriel Moreno
Arizona State University

As a young child, Catie Speas was forced to deal with the tragic loss of her father. Speas struggled with the insurmountable pain of replacing the void once held by her father’s embrace.

As a single parent, Catie’s mother, Lauren, required a nanny. Speas accompanied her nanny everywhere. That included the volleyball court where her nanny coached at Perry and for Aspire Volleyball Club.

“I was with her 24/7 and I went to all her practices, tournaments, just everything and I just fell in love watching the sport,” Speas said.

Speas began her volleyball journey when she turned 8. She made the Gilbert varsity as a freshman and the Tigers made it to the quarterfinals of the state tournament. “It was such an amazing game and I’ll never forget it,” Speas said.

Now a senior, Speas plays alongside teammate Natalie Williams, who she first played with in the eighth grade. “Catie has been my best friend since junior high,” Williams said. “To be able to play alongside her in high school is a dream come true.”

As captain of the Tigers, Speas is known for more than her lasting friendships.

“She is so critical to our team,” coach Joe Hesse said. “Her competitiveness and understanding for the game are unmatched.”

Speas competitiveness is not isolated to her on-court play. She also channels it in the classroom. Speas has been a golden scholar during her high school career and is meeting qualifications as a senior.

“I actually consider my grades to be a bigger success than anything I’ve done on the volleyball court,” Speas said.

Gilbert drought over
The drought is over. Gilbert, winless at home last season, won in The Jungle for the first time since 2016 Thursday.

In 2017, the Tigers were 0-8 on their home court. They ranked last in the standings with a 0-10 inter-league showing.

But Gilbert's three-set sweep over McClintock underlined a new day for the Tigers (2-3).

Coach Joe Hesse, in his 20th season, hopes to rebound and return his team to its regional title form.

“I think we outmatched that team. We’re a little bit ahead of where McClintock is but we’ll take a win because they’ve been hard to come by,” Hesse said.

Over the course of the 2017 season, the Tigers won a total of 17 sets, or 18.5 percent of their sets, ranking last in the standings.

But adjustments are evident this season. Gilbert has won 50 percent of its sets.

Setter Catie Speas led the way to the 25-2, 25-9, 25-8 sweep.

Speas, a senior, coordinates the Tigers attack. She had 28 assists last week. The team captain aspires to lead her team to their 13th regional title in 14 years.

“We all have a huge amount of passion to play volleyball. Our passion clashes with one another giving us good chemistry on the court,” Speas said.

Now in her fourth season, Speas possess an astute understanding of volleyball and an impressive skill set making for a powerful offensive attack.

In an effort to build a more potent team, Hesse incorporated talented freshman outside hitter Naia Stewart.

“If projections are what I think they are she can be one of those special talents. She’s got a lot of what we’re looking for,” Hesse said.

Stewart led the team in kills last week, showcasing her aggressive athleticism and impressive dexterity.

“She’s a great asset,'' said Speas. "She’s tall, has a lot of room to grow. But, I think she’s on the road to great things.”

With a home victory in the books and a strong start, the Tigers have their sights set on the school's first state championship since 2011.

Casteel controls 3rd-4th sets, tops Gilbert
September 18, 2018 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365

The 5A San Tan Region is going to take some getting used to for everyone in it this season. Only Campo Verde and Williams Field competed in 5A and the San Tan last year. Two of the schools new to the region -- Gilbert and Casteel - faced off in the region opener Tuesday and the school up from 3A a year ago edged the team down from 6A.

Casteel grabbed the lead in each of the third and fourth sets and never trailed in both pulling off a 3-1 victory at The Jungle. Scores were 27-25, 17-25, 25-22, 25-22.

Casteel coach Jeff Bader is no stranger to coaching the sport, although most of his time has been spent mentoring the guys at other stops. The Colts competed in invitationals the past two weekends and entered play Tuesday 5-16. They played much better Tuesday than their record indicates and it couldn't have come at a better time with the game counting toward power-ranking and in the region standings.

What stood out for Bader in this match was the play and return of setter, junior Taylor Tepe, back in the lineup after missing two weeks from injury. Tepe, in her third year on varsity, piled up 49 assists and spread the wealth to hitters led by senior middle Lauren Hase (12 kills and 3 blocks) and sophomore outside Kendall Varney (10 kills). Defensively libero Kaili Patterson checked in with 18 digs. Gilbert was led on the attack unofficially by junior middle Elizabeth Toiavao with 14 kills and senior Katana Montford with 13 kills.

"We've been missing Taylor since the first couple matches (three)," Bader said. "We've had a freshman (Maila Coles) filling in, and and she has gotten better and better as Taylor's been out. ....This team comes at you full bore. We never have a passive swing."

Casteel is 6-16 overall and 3-4 in power ranking matches -- and of course 1-0 in region. Gilbert, which played its best volleyball of the season this past weekend at the Westwood Tournament of Champions in qualifying for the Gold Bracket, fell to 11-11, 3-4 prm. Gilbert coach Joe Hesse felt his team took a step back from an encouraging weekend in this loss. There won't be time to work on some of the errors that plagued the Tigers periodically as Gilbert plays two more region games Wednesday at Williams Field and Thursday at Campo Verde.

Gilbert did rebound nicely in the second set to even the match after a tough loss in the opener. All the momentum gained from that set vanished and didn't return as the Tigers faced an uphill battle in the match's final two sets.

Casteel led in the fourth set 9-3 and later 17-12. Gilbert made pushes forging a tie at 19 after a Casteel error. Casteel ran off a 3-0 run with kills by Sammie Schmid and Hase keying the run. The Tigers couldn't make up the ground with a hitting error, service error and net violation blunting a final rally. Varney finished the match with her 10th kill.

Joe Hesse

Matt Gutierrez

Mr. Christopher Stroud

Dan Haasch

Shawna Bradjan

GILBERT HIGH SCHOOL
1101 E. Elliot Rd.
Gilbert, AZ 85234
(480) 497-0177 Ext. 169
GILBERT PUBLIC SCHOOLS