Region 9 volleyball: Desert Hills clinches outright title with win over PV

Written by Darren Cole
October 18, 2016
Desert Hills vs. Pine View, Volleyball, St. George, Utah, Oct. 18, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Desert Hills continued its dominance in Region 9 with a four-set win at home against Pine View Tuesday night. The victory officially clinches the Region 9 championship for the Lady Thunder, who are a perfect 9-0 in region play.

With the loss, Pine View remains in second place, now tied with Dixie at 6-3. Hurricane climbed out of the winless category with a hard-fought five-set win over Cedar. Below are game summaries of Tuesday night’s matches:

Desert Hills 3, Pine View 1

Desert Hills dropped only its second set in region play, but still brought home the win against the visiting Lady Panthers 19-25, 25-9, 25-15, 25-14.

desert-hills-logopine-view-logo“It was a good senior night tonight as we played for cancer awareness,” said Thunder head coach Jill Swaney. “Emotions ran a little high at the beginning of the match as Pine View’s good defensive play overtook us in the first set.”

Rachel Winters started the second set on an 11-0 serving run, including eight aces. The rest of the team followed her lead, serving well the rest of the match.

“It was a good game to play to prepare for the state tournament next week,” Swaney said.

Desert Hills' Charity Bradley (12), Desert Hills vs. Pine View, Volleyball, St. George, Utah, Oct. 18, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Desert Hills’ Charity Bradley (12), Desert Hills vs. Pine View, Volleyball, St. George, Utah, Oct. 18, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“We followed our game plan in set one,” said Pine View head coach Kelly Murdock. “It seems we forgot how to serve-receive in the second set and they took us out of our game mentally. But we are getting closer to the team I want to see compete at the state tournament.”

Individually for the Thunder, Charity Bradley and Winters led with 25 and 19 kills, respectively. Hailee Harmer led with 38 assists and 23 digs. Other players with double-digit digs were Bradley (18) and Katelyn Taylor (12). Madison Clark led the team with five blocks. Winters finished with an incredible 13 service aces for the match.

For Pine View, Cydnee McGuire led the team with seven kills. Libero Kiara Rivas led the team with 17 digs. McGuire had 11 digs. Amelia Goebel led the team with three blocks. Cassidy Murdock, who was just named academic all state, finished the game with 23 assists.

Desert Hills moves to 9-0 with the win and 21-7 overall. The Lady Thunder will finish out the year playing at Snow Canyon on Thursday. The Lady Panthers fall to 18-10 overall and 6-3 in Region 9. Pine View will travel to Cedar on Thursday night.

Dixie 3, Snow Canyon 0

The Lady Flyers cruised in straight sets, 25-16, 25-17, 25-18.

The Lady Warriors started the first set on a 5-2 run but the tide quickly turned. Dixie led 12-9 behind the service of Brooklyn Wright. After the Lady Flyers took a five-point advantage at 16-11, Snow Canyon clawed back to pull within 19-17. After a sideout, Wright got service again and closed out the match with a 5-0 run.

dixie-logosnow-canyon-logoThe second set saw Dixie jump out early on the serves of Brynn Eardley, 11-4. The lead quickly climbed to 14-6. Ina Fakahua then served for Snow Canyon and the Lady Warriors were able to pull within four, 18-14. Both teams were struck with service errors toward the end of the set. Ella Burrows closed out the set with a kill to take the win.

The third set again saw an early Flyer lead 9-3. Snow Canyon head coach Ryan Rarick inserted sophomore Lizzy Rowland. The move paid immediate dividends. Snow Canyon closed the gap to 13-12 behind Rowland’s service. The momentum carried as they knotted the score at 15 and then held a late 18-16 lead. After a sideout however, Dixie’s Shawnee Jones served out the match, closing on a 9-0 run.

“We played well in spurts tonight but had little consistency,” said Rarick. “Against a good team like Dixie, inconsistencies are fatal. Sophomore Lizzy Rowland stepped up and played with fire tonight.”

“Our girls have been working hard in practice and they are getting better,” said Dixie head coach Stacy Leavitt. “We didn’t play the steep roller coaster game tonight. We stayed consistent and kept chipping away at the points to come up with a win.”

Dixie spread the offense. Risha Tiatia led with 10 kills. Tyler Stilson (9) and Burrows (7) also had some good swings. Shawnee Jones and Brooklyn Wright served very well with six and five service aces, respectively. For Snow Canyon, Sammi Johnston led with nine kills. Camryn Johnson led the team with 15 assists and 11 digs. Cami Utley also had 11 digs. Lizzie Rowland and Ina Fakahua each had two service aces.

Dixie moves into a tie with Pine View for second at 6-3 in region and is 12-6 overall. The Lady Flyers will host Hurricane on Thursday. The Lady Warriors fall to 7-18 overall and 4-5 in Region 9. Snow Canyon, which is locked into the fourth-seed for the playoffs, will host Desert Hills on Thursday night.

Hurricane 3, Cedar 2

Hurricane got its first win in region play, outlasting Cedar 25-20, 22-25, 14-25, 25-20, 15-7.

“I am very proud of the way the girls played,” said Tiger head coach Content Marshall. “They really worked together as a team.”

hurricane-logocedar-logoAlexa Christensen led HHS with five kills and five blocks, Jaiden Smith led the team with 11 kills and 2 blocks. Kansas Lytle had 7 kills and 4 service aces. Sierra Davis led the team with 6 service aces and also had 5 kills and 14 digs. Jeanette Cram also had 6 service aces. Hollie Isom led the team with 24 digs and had 5 service aces.

“We had a difficult time executing serve-receive,” said Cedar head coach Nicole Anglin. “That was our downfall tonight. Dream Weaver played a great all-around game. Kylee Field had led the team well on the floor.”

Kyley Beatty led Cedar with 12 kills. Japrix Weaver and Katelyn Armstrong had nine and eight kills, respectively. Shaun Bauman led the team with 22 digs. Other players with double-digit digs were Denim Henkel (16), Beatty (15) and Dream Weaver (13). Kylee Field led the team with 30 assists.

The Lady Tigers move to 1-8 and 3-14 overall. Hurricane travels to Dixie on Thursday. The Lady Reds fall to 1-8 in region play and 8-11 overall. Cedar will host Pine View on Thursday night.

REGION 9 VOLLEYBALL STANDINGS

1. Desert Hills 9-0 (21-7)
2t. Dixie 6-3 (12-6)
2t. Pine View 6-3 (18-10)
4. Snow Canyon 4-5 (7-18
5t. Cedar 1-8 (8-12)
5t. Hurricane 1-8 (3-14)

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.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.