Apex avenged an earlier 3-2 loss to Green Hope -- one that snapped that long win streak on Aug. 30 -- with a quick and mostly dominant 3-0 win on the Falcons' home court. It handed Green Hope (14-1, 10-1), the 2nd-ranked team in the N&O area rankings, its first loss of the season.

Both of their season matches have started with Apex -- ranked fifth in the N&O rankings -- winning the first two sets. But unlike in August, when Apex crumbled after taking a lead in the season's fourth conference game, the Cougars (13-2, 11-1) maintained their focus into the third to win 25-14, 25-16, 25-23.

Apex senior Megan Gravley said her team learned from that loss.

"We've played about 10 more games since then so we've become a lot more mature in the ways of mental toughness, and stuff like that and it showed in that game," said Gravley, an Elon recruit.

The Cougars' renewed focus and poised was noticeable from the outset. Despite playing in front of hundreds of spectators -- including a boisterous student section of about 90 dressed in neon colors -- Apex played a nearly flawless defensive game.

Both coaches and Gravley all had comments about Apex libero Melissa Mayfield. Mayfield is a junior playing the position for the first time.

Mayfield covered a lot of ground for the Cougars, making it difficult for Green Hope to fit a kill into an open spot on the court.

"Their defense was phenomenal. Our swings were there, we had the shots, but (Apex) just got the ball up every time and put pressure on us," Green Hope coach Karl Redelfs said. "Their libero blew my mind."

Mayfield was a big part of Apex's adjustments made to take away Green Hope's best angles.

"Our libero Melissa (Mayfield) and our (defensive specialist) Allison Winters played awesome tonight," Gravley said. "We had practiced so much defending the right side with (Green Hope's) Christina (Vucich) and the outside against their two pretty good outside (hitters)."

Apex coach Nikki O'Connell added: "We've worked on defense for the past two weeks getting ready for this match... They knew what to expect. And as a coach, that's what I wanted them to feel like. I didn't want them to have any unexpected things happen."

Redelfs expects his team would learn from the season's first loss.

"We know what we need to work on and we're going to come back stronger," he said.

Now that the two teams have traded road victories, the possibility exists that they will meet a third time in the regular season. If both sides end the conference schedule with just one Tri-Nine loss apiece, they will have to play a tiebreaker to see who will get the No. 1 seed in the state playoffs.

"If we win the conference championship we will win our fourth in a row -- and that would be so awesome," Gravley said "We're going to fight and do everything we can to do that."