Region 9 volleyball: Dixie, Desert Hills stay unbeaten with home wins

Written by Darren Cole
August 25, 2016
Desert Hills' Rachel Winters (7), Desert Hills vs. Enterprise, Volleyball, St. George, Utah, Aug. 25, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Dixie and Desert Hills both got home wins on Thursday night, while Snow Canyon and Hurricane suffered road losses. Preseason first team hitters Charity Bradley, Rachel Winters, Tyler Stilson and Sammi Johnston all led their teams with outstanding performances. Below is a recap of the games played:

Desert Hills 3, Enterprise 0

The Lady Thunder opened the season with a three-set sweep of the Lady Wolves. The preseason Region 9 favorite played more and more dominant as the match progressed with set scores of 25-20, 25-14, 25-6. The win snapped an Enterprise four-game winning streak.

desert-hills-logoRegion 9 preseason co-players of the year Charity Bradley and Rachel Winters led the team with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Jessica Harris was not far behind with eight kills. Setters Hailee Harmer and Saselah Goulding led the team with 17 and 13 assists, respectively. Libero Katelyn Taylor led the team with 10 digs.

Desert Hills' Charity Bradley (12), Desert Hills vs. Enterprise, Volleyball, St. George, Utah, Aug. 25, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Desert Hills’ Charity Bradley (12), Desert Hills vs. Enterprise, Volleyball, St. George, Utah, Aug. 25, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“We started out with first-game jitters and missed a few serves,” said Desert Hills head coach Jill Swaney. “We went into the next set to improve on our serves. We were able to settle down and control the elements of the game. Rachel Winters had a good match with a pass rating of 2.57. Charity Bradley led us with kills and Jessica Harris had zero attack errors with a .727 percentage to dominate the middle attack.”

The Lady Thunder will host Richfield next Thursday. Enterprise falls to 7-4 and will face Richfield on Tuesday night.

Dixie 3, Spanish Fork 0

Dixie continued its strong play with a win in straight sets over Spanish Fork, 25-16, 25-13, 25-18. Several girls attacked and served well. Tyler Stilson led the team with six kills. Lauren Beatty and Shawnee Jones contributed five kills each. Grace Bown led the team with seven service aces. Jones and Brooklyn Wright had four service aces apiece.

“Our girls served well,” said Dixie head coach Stacy Leavitt. “We kept chipping away at the points. We still have some work to do, but the girls have been focused, disciplined and are willing to work and improve. Tonight was an all-around team effort.

The Lady Dons drop to 0-1 in their first match of the season. Dixie improves to 3-0 and will now have a three-week hiatus before starting region play when they will travel to Desert Hills on Sept. 15.

Union 3, Snow Canyon 2

The Lady Warriors suffered a heart-breaking loss on the road at Union. After dropping the first set, Snow Canyon rallied to take a 2-1 set lead. But the Warriors could not close the match out with a fourth-set victory and fell in five, 25-20, 18-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-11.

Sammi Johnston led the team with 23 kills and contributed 11 digs. Ally Dunston had nine kills and 14 digs. Ina Fakahua led the team with 16 digs.

“Our girls really battled tonight,” said Warrior head coach Ryan Rarick. “We were on the bus for seven hours today and fatigue seemed to be a factor tonight. Union had a great crowd, creating a tough environment for play. Our senior leadership got us to a 2-1 advantage. Union has a talented squad and they battled back to push it to a fifth set. We did not have enough in the tank to finish. Even with the loss we did get better today.”

Union improves to 4-7 with the win. Snow Canyon falls to 1-1 and will host Canyon View next Thursday.

Richfield 3, Hurricane 1

The Lady Wildcats started and finished strong in the four-set win Thursday night, 25-21, 25-8, 22-25, 25-15.

Madi Roberts led Richfield with nine kills in the home win for RHS.

Hurricane, 0-4, will take a break until region play begins with a road trip to Pine View Sept. 15.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Darren Cole recently returned to sportswriting after a 20-plus year hiatus. While pursuing other studies, he developed an early passion for sports writing as a senior writer and sports editor for the Ricks College Scroll in 1988-89. Darren has spent the last 20 years writing legal memorandi and appellate briefs. In addition to his legal career, he has also taught legal and criminal justice courses at the university level for nine years as an adjunct professor. Darren is married to wife Lisa, has two sons and is a confessed sports junkie.

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