Region 9 volleyball recap: Desert Hills, Crimson Cliffs tied atop standings after 2 games

Hurricane at Pine View, St. George, Utah, Sept. 1, 2020 | Photo by Dave Larson, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Just two games into the regular season, only two Region 9 volleyball teams remain unbeaten in region play. The Desert Hills Thunder and Crimson Cliffs Mustangs are each 2-0 after winning tough five-set matches Tuesday night.

In a hard-fought battle at Snow Canyon, the Thunder won the first two games, beating the Warriors 25-17 and 25-21. Snow Canyon then rallied to win the next two games 25-18 and 25-22 to set up a deciding fifth game. In that last game, the Thunder’s Ellie Chase made the game-clinching kill from the right side of the net, giving Desert Hills a 15-11 win. See a video clip of the final point in the tweet below, courtesy of St. George News sports reporter Mark Musgrave:

Snow Canyon’s Katie Langford recorded 17 kills in the losing effort.

“It was so exciting, especially the fifth set,” Musgrave reported. “It was one of the best volleyball matches I have ever seen. It was a kill fest between Chase and Langford.”

Canyon View at Cedar, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 1, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Meanwhile, at Crimson Cliffs, the Mustangs also improved to 2-0, thanks to a narrow win over the Dixie Flyers, 23-25, 35-19, 22-25, 25-23, 15-12. Dixie won the first and third sets, but Crimson Cliffs prevailed in the other three. Sophomore Riann Gines recorded 19 of the Mustangs’ 39 kills during the match and also served up three aces.

In other Region 9 action Tuesday night, the Cedar Reds defeated crosstown rival Canyon View 3-1 (27-25, 25-12, 20-25, 25-20), while the Hurricane Tigers swept the Panthers at Pine View, 3-0 (25-15, 25-6, 26-24).

Last week, in the Region 9 regular season opening night games on Aug. 25, Desert Hills won in a sweep at Hurricane, while Dixie won 3-1 at Pine View, Snow Canyon won at home, sweeping Cedar 3-0 and Crimson Cliffs won a closely fought five-set match against visiting Canyon View, 19-25, 25-20, 25-15, 19-25, 15-12). In that contest, Mustang junior Macie Hokanson led the way with 14 kills, while teammate Ella Jones, a sophomore, had five service aces.

This week’s Thursday night matches are as follows: Canyon View is at Dixie, Desert Hills is at Cedar, Snow Canyon is at Pine View and Crimson Cliffs is at Hurricane.

Region 9 volleyball standings, as of Sept. 2 (region record, overall)

  1. (Tie) Desert Hills 2-0 (3-1)
  2. (Tie) Crimson Cliffs 2-0 (5-3)
  3. (Tie) Dixie 1-1 (2-2)
  4. (Tie) Snow Canyon 1-1 (2-2)
  5. (Tie) Hurricane 1-1 (5-4)
  6. (Tie) Cedar 1-1 (6-4)
  7. (Tie) Canyon View 0-2 (3-3)
  8. (Tie) Pine View 0-2 (1-7)

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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