No. 1 Monument Valley took the step that eluded it the last three years on Saturday night and in the process left a nice going-away present for eight seniors.

The majority of those seniors were quite active in their varsity finale and teamed up with a couple underclassmen to procure a championship. The Mustangs knocked off No. 2 seed Cactus 25-20, 26-24, 23-25, 25-14 to nab the Division III volleyball title before a boisterous crowd at Prescott Valley Event Center in Prescott Valley.

Monument Valley took its seed to heart. and backed up the ranking The Mustangs were taken to five sets earlier in the day in the semis by No. 5 Seton Catholic. The last three years Monument Valley reached the quarterfinals twice and semis once -- each year losing to the eventual champion or runner-up. That wasn't goiing to happen this time.

"That was their goal this year from the first day," Monument Valley coach Rennell Gilmore said. "We had to make some adjustment during the match, but more than anything it was them wanting to win it."

Monument Valley was paced by senior middle hitter Ohilyah Shirley, who wasn't 100 percent due to a sore ankle. Shirley managed 15 kills, most of them of the tip variety, but with power when needed. Anotther prominent senior Taylor Worker battled with a knee brace and contributed eight kills kills. Senior middle Tiara John added seven kills. Combined with the work of junior libero Shayla Yazzie and junior setter Neklyah Draper  the Mustangs were sharp when they needed to be and accepted streaks of errors that plagued Cactus throughout the match.

Monument Valley closed out the first set after it was tied at 17. All eight of the Mustangs points from there on were via Cactus errors -- some serving, some hitting and a couple net violations.

Cactus had a huge chance to win the second set early. The Cobras lead 15-9, but surrendured six successive points. Two of the points were errant attacks and three were aces. Monument Valley outlasted their foe down the stretch of the set to go up 2-0. Cactus escaped a sweep with its best set of the match. It's offense was clicking led by senior middle Tara Melton. Melton had a match-high 19 kills -- nine in the third set. Fellow senior Samantha partin added 10 kills  in the match.

Cactus finished runner-up for the second year in a row under second-year coach Anthony Puglisi. Cactus escape a first-round upset bid by Greenway rallying to win the final two sets in a tiebreaker. The Cobras then swept the hottest team entering postseason in the division -- Saguaro. Cactus lost to Flagstaff in the title match last year and avenged that defeat in Saturday afternoon's semis in five sets. The five-set matches Monument Valley and Cactus endured earlier in the day seemed to take some energy from them. The level of  play wasn't the best either can generate, but the match was competitive until the final half of the fourth set when Cactus struggleed to finish.

Monument Valley's last title before Saturday was in 2010 -- the year current seniors were in eighth grade. The Mustangs were on title roll in the sport at the time and naturally they felf their time would come. It just happened to take the full four years. Monument Valley has been the top team overall in D-III (3A) the last 25 years with nine state titles (counting Saturday) and an additional five second-place finishes.