Roberto Astorga is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mountain Ridge High School for AZPreps365.com.

Mountain Ridge beating Desert Valley region rival Boulder Creek, 9-0, at home on Tuesday.

The Mountain Lions (11-2 overall, 3-1 region) swept the Jaguars (3-10 overall, 0-4 region) in every match.

“We were fortunate to win a couple of those matches,” Mountain Ridge head coach Adam Korman said. “It was good to get a win.” 

This match against Boulder Creek was Senior Night for Mountain Ridge’s four varsity players. Seniors Lilah Zafar, Sophia Grabham, Prarthana Udayakumar, and Emma Post won their last regular season home game of their high school careers. 

Mountain Ridge junior Shresta Narayanan finished her match the fastest. She won both of her singles sets 21-5. In doubles, alongside her partner Lilah Zafar, they were tested until the end winning their first set 21-17 before going on to win the second, 21-12. 

“I felt confident going into the match,” Narayanan said. “I did make a lot of mistakes that I usually don’t make, but I think I fixed them throughout the second match.”

One of the seniors that played their last regular season home match was Sophia Grabham. She was tested with her singles match up winning both sets 21-15. In doubles, she and sophomore Bhavana Vinodh made quick work of their opponents, beating them 21-7 and 21-3. 

“It was nice,” Grabham said. “It was our last game and Senior Night so it was definitely more fun than usual.”

One of Boulder Creek's two freshmen Japneet Kaur tested Mountain Ridge scoring 19 points in her singles match, and then 17 in doubles. 

Boulder Creek's currently tied for last place with Sandra Day O'Connor, but the Jaguars still have a chance of leaving the bottom if they win their last game is against SDOC.

Mountain Ridge is now in second place, moving past third-place Pinnacle because of the victory they had over them earlier this season. Mountain Ridge's last opponent is at Liberty on Oct. 17. Winning the last game will give Mountain Ridge better seeding in the state championship and likely home advantage. 

The ending to the Desert Valley region will be an interesting sight to see. Sunnyslope plays Pinnacle next week. If Sunnyslope wins, they win the region. If Pinnacle wins, and Mountain Ridge wins their match against Liberty, Sunnyslope, Pinnacle, and Mountain Ridge all will have a 4-1 record tied for first place.