The Palo Verde boys volleyball team picked up a big early-season road win Thursday night in a match between the past three Class 5A state champions.

The Panthers swept Shadow Ridge 25-17, 25-21, 26-24 in a nonleague match.

Palo Verde (5-2), the defending state champion, received contributions from all over the court. Four players recorded at least five kills, and three players recorded multiple assists.

Seniors Peter Castor and Eli Nelson each had eight kills, and senior Dylan Ho added six.

“We know we’re going to get everyone’s best shot this season, and we did a good job tonight not letting up,” Panthers coach Phil Clarke said. “Good teams are hard to take down.”

In the third set, Palo Verde needed every kill it could get from its trio of seniors as Shadow Ridge (8-2) refused to go away despite its 2-0 set deficit.

The Mustangs, the state champs in 2022 and ’23, put up an 8-3 run late in the set to take a 24-23 lead before Ho, the reigning 5A state player of the year, came up with a big kill to tie the game at 24.

That kill came moments after Ho received “overrated” chants from the Shadow Ridge student section.

Following a timeout by Shadow Ridge, Ho once again silenced the crowd with another kill. Palo Verde then won the next point to finish off its fourth sweep of the season.

Junior setter Jagger Mendenhall recorded 15 assists for the Panthers. He had a game-high seven in the second set, connecting with Castor on five kills.

The Panthers lost the first point of the second set but never faced a deficit until 24-23 in the third.