When your team is sitting at No. 19 in the power rankings it's obvious whatever matches you have left you must win. Mesa Mountain View is facing that scenario and has taken two matches in two nights this week to stay afloat in the Division I volleyball playoff race. They have another to go on Wednesday.

While there is no guarantee of a berth with a third win, there's a fighting chance. Mountain View won the first two sets Tuesday night and staved off a momemtum swing by Chaparral in the third set and early in the fourth to take a 25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 25-20 triumph over the Firebirds at Toro Gym.

Mountain View improved to 10-6 in power-ranking matches and did so beating Chaparral, a team it had fallen to three times in invitationals this season. The three losses were tight, but there was no victory. Not until Tuesday when the Toros absolutely had to have it. Chaparral was No. 10 in the D-I power-rankings entering the night and dropped to 11-5 in power-ranking matches.

"I knew if the team that showed up in our last few matches was here tonight we could hang with Chaparral," Mountain View coach Tony Millanes said. "This is still stage one of two stages. We have work to do to get to stage two and hope we have a chance if we can go to Boulder Creek and get another one."

Mountain View used solid play from senior middle Jenna Wilfert (14 kills with only one error) and senior outside Rachel Fischbeck (12 kills) to keep Chaparral in check most of the night, although neither coach was able to breathe easy. Mountian View put together runs three runs in the first set - the first to rally from behind, the second to extend its lead to a set-high five and a final burst that gave it enough to nab the set. Chaparral started slowly with 10 errors in the opening set, including five double-hits. Mesa blew a five-point lead in the second set, but made fewer mistakes down the stretch to go up 2-0. Fischbeck had four kills and junior middle Olivia Osborn had three in the set.

Chaparral thrives on the attacking of 6-foot-3 junior outside Lauren Stivrins and Stivrins picked up her game in the third set and early in the fourth to help the Firebirds forge a comeback. Stivrins had 11 kills (unofficially) in the first two sets and 12 more in the third set to help force a fourth. Her unofficial total for the match was 29.

"We know No. 11 (Stivrins) is the real deal," Millanes said. "She gets so high she's tough to stop. You have to win some matchups when she's not in there."

Chaparral had Mountain View back-peddling early in the fourth building an 11-6 lead. Stivrins had four kills during that stretch. A Stivrins' kill gave Chaparral a 14-13 lead  -- her last kill of the match. Mountain View pecked away and tied the set at 15. Wilfert, adept at adjusting her attacks, especially via tips, knocked down three in a row to give Mountain View a 22-18 advantage. Mountain View finished off the match with back-to-back aces from sophomore Mala Tukuafu. Tukuafu had five aces for the match.

"We honored our seniors tonight and they've given us great leadership all year," Millanes, who is in his first year at Mountain View after guiding Mesa High's boys volleyball team for nearly a decade. "Jenna has consistently been the player to come through when we've need someone to."

Schools ranked 14th (Mountain Ridge), 15th (Highland) and 16th) Chandler all lost Tuesday while No. 17 Boulder Creek and No. 18 Desert Mountain won matches. Mountain View visits Boulder Creek and Chaparral is at Desert Mountain on Wednesday to conclude their regular seasons.