The San Diego Mojo (9-10) topped the Orlando Valkyries (7-14) in five sets, 25-18, 19-25, 25-15, 18-25, 15-11, on Monday night at Viejas Arena. It marked the Mojo’s sixth consecutive five-set match, a Pro Volleyball Federation record. San Diego has won six of their last seven matches and improved to 2-1 against Orlando this season with all three matches taking the full five sets.

Willow Johnson had a match-high 20 points and 17 kills for San Diego and added three blocks and nine digs. Ronika Stone had 13 kills, scoring on 13 -of-22 swings (59 percent), with two blocks and seven digs. Ali Bastianelli tallied a match-high four blocks and scored 10 points with six kills, while August Raskie had her first double-double of the season, posting 14 assists and 13 digs.

San Diego opened the match with an ace from Bastianelli, who had a season-high three on the night, but Orlando followed with three straight points. The Mojo countered with three points of their own to make it 4-3 and the Valkyries kept things close from there, tying the score at 7-7. The Mojo then took command, scoring six of the next seven points, including aces from Nootsara Tomkom and Temi Thomas-Ailara to take a 13-8 lead and force an Orlando time-out. The Valkyries scored out of the break, but the Mojo once again put together a three-point run, including a pair of huge swings from Johnson, to go up 16-9. Orlando began chipping away at the San Diego lead, cutting the Mojo advantage to four at 20-16, until another three-point run for San Diego had the home side on the brink of winning the set. Orlando collected two quick points to make it 23-18, but the Mojo scored the next two to wrap up the set, 25-18.

Orlando kicked off the scoring in set two as the squads traded points through the first 11 scores to give the Valkyries a 6-5 lead. An ace gave Orlando the first multi-point lead of the set, which they pushed to three at 8-5. Back-to-back kills by Johnson and Stone and an ace from Bastianelli leveled the score, 8-8, then Orlando took control of the set with a 7-3 run to take a four-point lead. After a Mojo time-out, San Diego scored three straight points to cut the deficit to one, 15-14. The squads once again traded points until Orlando broke through to take a three-point lead, 20-17. Orlando tacked on three more points to go up, 23-17, before San Diego ended the rally, then closed out the set by scoring two of the next three to win it, 25-19.

The Valkyries got on the board first in set three for what would be their only lead of the frame. San Diego scored the next four points on a pair of kills by Lindsey Vander Wiede and one each from Johnson and Dahlke. The Mojo caught fire from there, extending the lead to 10-3, highlighted by a trio of blocks from Vander Weide, Stone, and Raskie. Orlando called time out to slow the Mojo onslaught and scored after a San Diego attacking error, but the offense kept rolling, scoring five of the next seven points to go ahead, 15-6. The Valkyries began to reel the Mojo back in, reducing the San Diego lead to 16-11 until a service error halted the run. A block by Stone, another Bastianelli ace, and an Orlando net violation gave San Diego a nine-point lead, 20-11, before pushing it to 10 points at 23-13. The squads split the last two points, giving the set to San Diego, 25-15.

A long rally to open set four led to a point for the Valkyries as the visitors, who then jumped to a 7-3 lead. San Diego cut the deficit to one, 9-8, only to have Orlando score the next four to take a five-point lead. Still leading by five at 20-15, the Valkyries closed out the set with a 5-3 run to win the frame 25-18 and send the match to a fifth and deciding set.

Orlando once again started the scoring, but the Mojo answered with a huge swing from Johnson for a kill and a Bastianelli block. San Diego scored five of the next seven points, capped by a cross-court kill by Vander Weide to give the Mojo a 7-3 advantage and force the Valkyries to take a time-out. The home side kept rolling out of the time out, scoring the next three points, going up 10-3 with a Thomas-Ailara smash to the back line. A three-point run by the Valkyries brought the visitors back into the set, then cut into the Mojo lead further to draw within three points, 13-10. Thomas-Ailara scored as the sides came out of a timeout, then won the two points later with a Johnson slam, 15-11.

San Diego hits the road for a pair of matches at the Grand Rapids Rise on May 4-5 in a battle for playoff positioning. The Rise are in third place in the league with a 10-11 record, percentage points ahead of the fourth place Mojo. San Diego will then return to Viejas Arena on Tuesday, May 7 for the final home match of the season against the Columbus Fury at 7 p.m.

MATCH NOTES

• Johnson has scored in double-digits in all four matches she has played in since joining the Mojo on April 18.
• San Diego has won a league-best five five-set matches.
• The Mojo has played in a league-high nine five-set matches, one more than Orlando’s eight (2-6).
• The Mojo posted a 2-1 record for the second-straight home stand and improved to 6-5 at home this season.
• San Diego will play four of their final five matches on the road.