In front of a vocal Dawg Pound, the Scottsdale Horizon Huskies did some pounding of their own on the volleyball court.

The Huskies (7-4, 3-1) swept rival Phoenix Pinnacle 3-0 in a 5A-II Pima Region contest Thursday at Horizon High School.

The Huskies were dominant for most of the night, pleasing the 100-plus student backers and other faithful supporters with a 25-14, 25-22, 25-13 win.

Horizon moved into a tie for the league lead with Mesa Desert Ridge, while the Pioneers (6-7, 3-3) dropped their second match of the week to one of the co-leaders. They lost to Desert Ridge on Tuesday.

“We play off momentum and we got a lot (from our crowd),” said Horizon senior Renee Roth. “(Pinnacle) is a huge rival and this is a region match. We need all the power points we can get.”

To add to Pinnacle’s tough night, the team played for the second time this week without top outside hitter Emily Allen, who was out due to illness.

“I thought the team would step up and overcome that,” said Pinnacle coach Shelley Wooten, visibly disappointed with her team’s performance. “We just didn’t have it tonight.

“I would think our team would have got fired up for this match.”

The Huskies appeared plenty fired up. It’s been a festive week at the school, which has been preparing for its homecoming football game tonight against conference rival Tempe Marcos de Niza.

Prior to Thursday’s match, the school honored volleyball coach Valorie McKenzie, who got her 600th career win last month against Mesa Dobson.

“That was a big surprise. I was quite honored,” she said.

McKenzie’s team had an honorable performance, too.

It jumped out big on the Pioneers in the first and third sets and rallied from a late deficit in the second.