The Cactus Shadows Falcons will square off against the St. Mary's Knights at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. St. Mary's took a loss in their last matchup and will be looking to turn the tables on Cactus Shadows, who comes in off a win.
Cactus Shadows was handed a three-set defeat in their previous outing, but that didn't affect their clutch gene on Wednesday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-2 victory over Saguaro.
Cactus Shadows was staring down a 2-1 deficit headed into the fourth set, but they rallied to take the next two for the win. The final score came out to 21-25, 25-19, 16-25, 25-23, 15-9.
Mateja Cousins
| 10/01/25 vs Saguaro | 50 |
| 09/15/25 @ Arcadia | 49 |
| 09/11/25 vs Crismon | 42 |
| 09/03/25 @ Thunderbird | 42 |
| 08/27/25 @ Paradise Honors | 42 |
Cactus Shadows got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Mateja Cousins out in front who had ten digs and four aces. The dominant performance also gave Cousins a new career-high in assists (50). Another player making a difference was Gabby Procopio, who had 27 digs and four aces.
They weren't the only good servers: Cactus Shadows was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 15 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least six aces in eight consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, St. Mary's came up short against Mesquite on Monday, falling 3-0. The Knights have struggled against the Wildcats recently, as the game was their fifth consecutive lost matchup.
St. Mary's loss dropped their record down to 14-7. As for Cactus Shadows, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 13-3 record this season.
Everything went Cactus Shadows' way against St. Mary's in their previous meeting back in October of 2024, as Cactus Shadows made off with a 3-0 victory. Will the Falcons repeat their success, or do the Knights have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
