As Denair High girls volleyball continues its Southern League play, the program has started to make its case as one of the best teams in the league.

In front of a tumultuous crowd on Wednesday, the Coyotes defeated Gustine High School in four sets (28-26, 25-6, 17-25, 25-19). Denair improves to 10-4 overall (3-1) and has won seven of its last eight matches. Out of the eight wins, they've swept their opponents in six of these matches. This marks the program’s best start through its first 14 games of a season.

While the scores may indicate that Denair was in control for most of its sets, head coach Marie Stucker credited the players' mentality and their effort defensively as the difference maker.

“I always tell the girls that you honestly have to stay focused the whole time regardless of how the game is going, and it’s the mental game that really comes into play when you’re done down or up,” Stucker said.

The opening set was a back-and-forth affair as both teams responded by scoring and forcing multiple errors. Gustine, who didn’t have a lead at this point, went ahead 23-22 after Denair committed an error. The Reds later extended their lead to two points and was in set point, prompting Stucker to call a timeout.

During the timeout, the fourth-year head coach told her team to remain focused and prepare for what’s to come later on. That message was enough to turn the tide for the Coyotes. Coming out of the break, Denair scored a point to cut its deficit to one point.

Soon after Gustine’s head coach Solomona Laupua called a timeout to stop Denair’s momentum. However that didn’t change the Coyotes confidence as Piper Northcutt spiked the ball towards Gustine’s Maddison Romero who committed an error by leading the ball out of bounds to tie the set at 24-24.

Both teams later each scored and committed an error to tie the set at 26-26. For every point Denair scored, the crowd erupted in excitement and stayed in disbelief when Gustine found a way to stay in the set.

Following a spike from the Reds, multiple Coyotes players scrambled across the court to volley the ball towards one another. The ball found its way through Arlene Gonzales who spiked just over the net to make it a set point for the Coyotes, 27-26.

Gonzales came through again for Denair when she spiked the ball towards Gustine territory. As multiple Reds players moved around to keep their chances afloat, but a miscommunication from two players allowed the ball to hit the floor, giving the Coyotes the opening set, 28-26.

Denair carried its momentum into the second set with an early 8-3 lead and caused Laupua to call a timeout. Despite Laupua’s words of encouragement, the Reds didn’t recover from its slow start as the Coyotes won the set, 25-6.

While the first two sets went to Denair, Gustine came into the third set with a sense of urgency. The Reds opened the period with a 5-2 lead and didn’t look back. As with every point scored and error forced, Gustine’s lead expanded and won the set, 25-17, to avoid being swept.

Entering the fourth set, the Coyotes knew what Gustine was capable of. The team opened the set with a 8-2 lead, resulting in Gustine calling a timeout. The timeout seemed to motivated the Reds to go on a 8-2 scoring run to trail 12-10. Facing the possibility of blowing its lead, Stucker subbed in Aaliyah Rodriguez and McKinley Binkley. That decision paid off as Denair later scored six straight points to lead 18-10. The Coyotes went to win the final set, 25-19.

As Denair looks to continue its momentum in league play, Stucker said the team’s ability to deal with adversity in close sets can build the players’ confidence moving forward.

“It is really a momentum shifter,” she said. “It really says a lot about the team to be able to bounce back from that and that’s the hardest part to coach is their mental game, but when you’re on the other end of that, that is a huge momentum [builder] going into the next sets.” 

Denair will host Waterford High School (3-10) on Monday at 6 p.m. The Coyotes currently hold a three-game winning streak against Waterford, dating back to October 2023.