The Higley girls volleyball team’s sweep of Maricopa 3-0 on Thursday night in Maricopa was more than just a win.

The victory, according to Higley senior Vanessa Jankowski, feels like a turning point for the team.

“I think we didn’t give up tonight,” Jankowski said. “We definitely put the effort in more than usual. We’ve had our ups and downs (this season). It’s been kind of rough to start. I feel that tonight was definitely a changing moment.”

Higley had a different and better attitude Thursday and it resulted in better play for the team.

“Right now with our team we are kind of a young team,” Higley coach Daniel Arrington said. “It’s the growth we are seeing. It’s a lot of players stepping up (and) not giving up when making mistakes.”

The Knights took the sets,  26- 24, 25 -20, 25-23.

“We tend to coast a little bit as soon as we get to like 15 points,” Jankowski said. “We tend to think like ‘oh OK, we got this in the bag,’ so we tend to coast. But honestly I feel like we still pushed through (tonight).”

In the third set, the Lady Knights were up by 10 points. Maricopa fought back until it almost caught up to the Lady Knights at 20-17.

Arrington said he is working on his team’s energy and persistence throughout their matches.

“Like that third set we were up by a ton, and we let our foot off the gas,” Arrington said. “So it’s trying to teach these girls you have got to keep pushing, you have got to keep fighting through.”

That set resulted in Higley taking the match after a final kill from sophomore Brisa Reaves.

Maricopa has gone through some major changes this week, but Thursday, although it did not win, coach Theresa Abernathy said she can see her team beginning to pull together.

Abernathy stepped in as varsity coach last Friday after the former coach, Jecksan Quinones, stepped down.

“They have to learn to trust themselves and believe in themselves and fight,” Abernathy said. “I told them we are in a dog pound league, and we have got to fight.”

Sophomore Sharkira Gillespie led Maricopa with kill after kill, but it was not enough to defeat the Knights.

“I think she (Gillespie) is just more confident and the girls are just feeling good about themselves,” Abernathy said.

Abernathy plans to start Friday’s practice with work on the team’s movement.

“They got to learn to run through balls,” Abernathy said. “They’ve got to learn if the balls here and they are a 10 feet away they have to run it down instead of watching it fall.”

Abernathy, who was the freshman volleyball coach, is excited to take on her new role as varsity coach at Maricopa High School.

“I am excited to work with these girls,” Abernathy said. “It’s a lot of work because I am doing both teams. But I love coaching and I love working with them.”