High school volleyball: 4A day 1 recap , Sky View, Orem, Green Canyon, Desert Hills advance to 4A semifinals
4A quarterfinals
Sky View 3, Park City 0
Sky View is headed to the 4A semifinals after a 25-23, 25-21, and 25-15 win over Park City. Sky View has outplayed postseason opponents a total of nine set wins to two set losses.
“They just give energy, and they just want to play for each other,” said Sky View head coach Sheila Sorensen. “They really don’t care who gets the credit, and they spread the offense and they’re just playing for each other right now. Our theme has been ‘family’ and I think that’s what they’re creating and that’s how they’re playing like.”
Ryen Smith and Anna Reese led Sky View in kills with 12 and 11 kills respectively.
Last year Sky View came into the 4A tournament as the top seed but lost in the 4A semifinals to Desert Hills. Sorensen said this is a different team than last year and knows what it needs to do in its semifinal match on Thursday.
“Stay focused, stay directed, just keep doing our thing. This is a completely different team, so we’ll just keep doing what this team can do, which is amazing. So, we’ll keep getting after it and do our best.”
Orem 3, Cedar City 2
Top-seeded Orem earned a spot in the 4A semifinals after a narrow 19-25, 25-20, 11-25, 25-18, and 15-13 five-set victory over Cedar. Things looked bad for Orem after the third set, where it was down in sets 2-1 after a 11-25 third set loss.
“I think it’s just executing our plan, figuring out like ‘what is it that we need to get done?’” said Orem head coach Bill Sefita. “Also, just controlling the things that we can control on our side of the court instead of focusing too much on the other side.”
However, Orem rallied and pushed the game to a fifth set where it won 15-13.
“We played really well,” said Sefita. “I think there are some things that we’ll talk about and iron out, but overall, they played really well. I think that’s one of the things we’ve always struggled with is pressure. I think (this win) just proved that we can actually perform in pressure, we just got to have some fire.”
Orem is set to play Sky View in the 4A semifinals at 11 a.m. Thursday in the UCCU center at UVU.
Green Canyon 3, Mountain View 1
Green Canyon avoided an upset with a 3-1 win over Mountain View in the 4A quarterfinals. The Wolves narrowly won the first set 26-24 and lost the second set 18-28. Green Canyon woke up and claimed the final two sets 25-20 and 25-21 respectively.
“Generally, I think they were resilient,” said Green Canyon head coach Madison Larsen. “I think they never really got too low or too high and I think they just kept focusing on what was next and really played as a team in those hard moments.”
Green Canyon had big contributions from Holli Daniels with 14 kills on a .650 hitting percentage, Audrey White with 10 kills, and Sofia Ortiz with seven blocks and seven kills.
“I think we just have to keep doing what we’ve been practicing, just focusing on what’s next and staying in the moment that we’re in,” said Larsen. “I think that they did a good job with that today and that’s just what we need to do tomorrow too.”
Green Canyon is set up to face Desert Hills in the 4A semifinals tomorrow at 11 a.m. in the UCCU Center at UVU.
Desert Hills 3, Hurricane 1
Desert Hills got by Hurricane with a 25-19, 25-21, 21-25, and 25-21 victory in the 4A quarterfinals. Desert Hills’ Lauren Larkin had 20 kills, Taylor Graff had 10, and Tatum Gardner had 47 assists.
“I thought the biggest thing is we just competed,” said Desert Hills’ head coach Craig Allred. “We had a few times where it felt like things kind of could have easily gone the wrong way. A few goofy things on the court, few goofy things here and there. They are easily shaken and get into emotions and those things. So, our girls did a really good job of staying centered on those things, controlling our controllables and then being able to focus and get to the finish.”
With the win, Desert Hills advanced to the 4A semifinals where they’ll face Green Canyon.
“It feels great to be able to advance,” said Allred. “At this point it’s all about surviving and advance. I don’t know that we’ve played our best yet, but we’re working our way there. We got a big day tomorrow and hopefully that will bring out the best.”
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4A second round
Park City 3, Provo 1
No. 5 Park City advances to the 4A quarterfinals after a 3-1 victory over No. 12 Provo. Park City took control after the sets were tied 1-1, and won sets two and three with dominant 25-15 and 25-11 victories.
Park City head coach Matt Carlson said Sabine Smith, Ella Russell and Sofia Stouffer each had standout performances which helped calmed their team’s playoff nerves.
Sky View 3, Payson 1
No. 4 Skyview defeated No. 13 Payson 3-1 in the second round of the 4A volleyball playoffs.
Sky View started with a strong 25-16 set one lead, but Payson answered back with a 25-18 set two win. Sky View woke up and took care of business in the following sets with 25-16 and 25-21 victories.
Sky View’s Anna Reese had a big performance with 13 kills, 15 digs, and eight aces. Ryen Smith also had 15 kills with three aces in the win.
Cedar City 3, Stansbury 0
No. 8 seed Cedar City made quick work of No. 9 seed Stansbury in a 3-0 sweep in the second round of the 4A playoffs.
The Reds won each set 25-14, 25-14, and 25-10. Cedar’s Emery Harrison led the way with 21 kills, 18 digs, and three aces.
Orem 3, Dixie 0
No. 1 Orem dominated No. 16 Dixie 3-0 to quickly advance to the 4A quarterfinals.
Orem’s Scarlett Page had 13 kills, Sami Blackett had 11 kills, while Sarah Page notched 19 assists. Orem dominated each set 25-8, 25-12, and 25-14 respectively.
Desert Hills 3, Crimson Cliffs 0
After a narrow 27-25 first set win, No. 3 Desert Hills beat No. 19 Crimson Cliffs for the 3-0 win and advanced to the 4A quarterfinals.
Desert Hills’ Trinity Pilimai led with 12 kills, Hallee Heath had seven and Lauren Larkin had six. Brooklyn Wilson had a strong serving game with five aces in the win.
Green Canyon 3, Mountain Crest 0
No. 2 seed Green Canyon took care of business in the second round of the 4A playoffs with a 3-0 sweep over No. 18 Mountain Crest. Green Canyon’s Audrey White had nine kills while Lily Force had 13 digs and four aces.
Mountain View 3, Ridgeline 1
Serving served No. 10 Mountain View well as it had 24 aces to take down No. 7 Ridgeline 3-1.
Mountain View’s Kelly Wesley was instrumental on the net with 21 kills with a .588 hitting percentage. Allie Cornwall had seven aces while Elle Richardson had six aces in the 4A second round win.
Hurricane 3, Snow Canyon 2
After a 0-2 deficit, No. 6 Hurricane rallied for the 3-2 4A second round comeback win against No. 11 Snow Canyon.
Khloee Wright was a force on the net with 11 kills in the game, Addison Crandall was right behind with 10 kills and Lizzie Takau served 5 aces in the win.
