St. Mary’s had a solid showing of teamwork in its season opener of boys volleyball on Thursday night.

It was a 25-17, 25-17, 25-21 sweep over Cascade Christian with great moments from outside hitter Kent David and middle blocker Connor Gibbs to pave the way.

The pair used their athleticism to control and pressure the net to keep a comfortable gap to start with two eight-point wins to take a 2-0 set lead. David finished with nine kills and eight digs and Gibbs added six kills, five digs and two blocks.

With the first two sets handily won by the Crusaders (1-0), the third set featured four straight ties to 19-all before David slammed down two kills to seal the shutout.

“Our team played really well together for a new team, we played as a unit,” said David. “No one was hard on each other, we helped each other up and, overall, we played a really strong game.”

The junior also credited C.J. Seggelink for setting up the offense with 20 assists and Chris Kranenburg going 14-for-14 on serves.

A big performance that David narrowed in on was Cole Mayfield for being a model of consistency in the ebb and flow of the game.

“I told him he was the MVP in my eyes and the team’s eyes,” David said about Mayfield. “I don’t know if he messed up at all. He’s doing everything right and he’s doing super consistently, and that consistency is bringing results.”

Despite the great team win, St. Mary’s boys volleyball coach Katie Miller saw cracks that she knows will be strengthened with more time and repetition.

“We had some good moments, a little inconsistent just overall, especially with passing,” said Miller. “It’s just more building on consistency and trust with each other and playing at that level we want to play at.”

Cascade Christian (0-1) looked a little looser than its Southern Region foe, experiencing slow starts in the first two sets with the players getting used to the sport before all the pieces came together to close the match.

Defensively, the Challengers gelled together to climb out of an early deficit and were in position to steal the third set before David struck.

“For a good portion of my players this was their first match,” said Challengers coach Skylar Harrington. “There was a level of comfort that developed among the players as we went set by set. That was one of the biggest things that helped us as we got going into that third set.”

One of the constants for the Challengers was libero Nik Joseph, who came up with 27 digs.

The senior agreed with Harrington about Cascade Christian needing to get comfortable earlier to create a stronger mentality like it had in the end.

“As a whole, we could have boosted it,” said Joseph. “It was time to hype it up. It’s time to overdrive and really, fully lock into what’s good and what’s going to grow the team.”

“We are all brand new to this,” he added. “We are feeling out the game and feeling out how we need to move together as a team to lock in.”

Josh Clark had 11 of his 20 digs in the final frame for Cascade Christian and Kellan Kleker also added three kills.

“We had some good opportunities to play in that third set,” said Harrington. “I’m very proud of them in that regard, the control and serve was what was better there.”

Challengers middle blocker Mason Hoffman also had some bright moments with four kills and an ace recorded in each frame.

“He is a good, consistent server,” Harrington said. “He is a hard-working player that provides blocking in the middle and can put away the ball on offense.”

NORTH MEDFORD 3, PHOENIX 1: Calvin McGary controlled the middle to guide North Medford to a 25-17, 22-25, 25-11, 25-18 home victory over Phoenix.

McGary tallied 17 assists, nine kills, seven aces and two blocks for the Black Tornado (2-0) and Seth Moore had 11 kills and three aces.

David Jormelu also contributed 13 digs and Malachi Munoz chipped in five kills in the win.

For Phoenix, Makaio Potts racked up six aces, six kills and four assists to help take the second set.

Logan Frazier also had three aces and two kills for the Pirates (0-2), while Oliver Janes came away with three digs and two assists.