Region 9 volleyball: Desert Hills tops Pine View in battle for 1st place

Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Volleyball, St. George, Utah, Sept. 27, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Tuesday night, Region 9’s most potent attack offense went up against its scrappiest defense.

On this night it was the offense of Desert Hills that prevailed in straight sets over Pine View in an excellent night of volleyball. And even though the match was decided in straight sets, Desert Hills had to work very hard for its victory with set scores of 31-29, 25-12, 26-24.

desert-hills-logopine-view-logo“Tonight, Pine View came out serving strong,” said Desert Hills head coach Jill Swaney. “They forced us to make some plays out of our system in that first set.”

Neither team could gain more than a 2-3 point advantage for most of the first set. At the end of the set, it came down to the team that made the least errors that came out on top, as service and attack errors led to five of the last eight points scored.

Pine View's Amelia Goebel (19) and Desert Hills' Hailee Harmer (2), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Volleyball, St. George, Utah, Sept. 27, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Pine View’s Amelia Goebel (19) and Desert Hills’ Hailee Harmer (2), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Volleyball, St. George, Utah, Sept. 27, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

In the second set, the loss appeared to have deflated Pine View as Desert Hills stormed out to leads of 7-1 and 11-2 before the Panthers began matching their opponent’s production.

“We gained our composure in the second set,” said Swaney. “We had better control in our passing game and we were able to settle into a groove.”

Pine View matched its earlier tenacity in the final set. Whether it was Aubrey Hendrickson and Emily Lanter up for the block, Kiara Rivas digging the kill shots or Cassidy Murdock chasing down errant passes, the Panther D was all over the place.

“We saw how well they played against Snow Canyon after losing two sets,” said Desert Hills setter Hailee Harmer. “We knew they would come back and play hard.”

Again, both teams struggled with service errors. But Harmer’s sets to her outside hitters were on target. Desert Hills shot a .211 percentage at the net.

“We had a sound game plan,” said Pine View head coach Kelly Murdock. “We just needed to have a few less unforced errors. I can’t be unhappy with how well the girls played tonight.”

“We missed a lot on serves,” said Swaney. “We had to battle back to make up for those lost points. It was good to see the team work together and pull out the win under pressure situations.”

Pine View's Cydnee McGuire (2), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Volleyball, St. George, Utah, Sept. 27, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Pine View’s Cydnee McGuire (2), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Volleyball, St. George, Utah, Sept. 27, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“It is nice to have so many weapons,” said Hailee Harmer. “Many of my sets depend on who is on the other side of the net. But Charity (Bradley) and Rachel (Winters) are so consistent. It is rare not to get an assist even if the set is imperfect.”

Desert Hills’ twin towers of Bradley and Winters led the Thunder with 19 and 17 kills, respectively. Harmer had 35 assists. Winters also led the team with 22 digs. Madison Clark and Saselah Goulding led the team with four blocks apiece.

For Pine View, Hendrickson led the team with 13 kills. Rivas led the team with 14 digs. Goebel had seven blocks. Murdock led the team with 25 assists.

Desert Hills moves to 16-7 overall and 4-0 in Region 9. The Thunder will host Snow Canyon on Thursday night. The Lady Panthers fell to 15-8 and 3-1 in the region. They will host Cedar on Thursday.

Dixie 3, Snow Canyon 1

The Lady Flyers bounced back from last week’s loss with a win over Snow Canyon 18-25, 25-11, 25-15, 25-16.

“We started off slow,” said Dixie head coach Stacy Leavitt. “But we were able to bounce back after the opening set loss and play well the final three sets. Things started to click for us. Everyone did their job and contributed. More importantly, we did not get down and stayed mentally tough.”

dixie-logosnow-canyon-logoFor Dixie, Tyler Stilson led with 23 kills. Aspen Bair recorded 17 digs and Brooklyn Wright dished out 39 assists. For Snow Canyon, Sammi Johnston led the team with nine kills and 11 digs. Camryn Johnson led with 20 assists.

“We had great service in the first set,” said Snow Canyon head coach Ryan Rarick. “We had errant passing most of the night though and that is what hurt us. It was one of those nights where not much went right. A bright spot was Ina Fakahua. She had four kills on only four attacks and also delivered four service aces.

Dixie moves to 8-5 overall and 2-2 in the region. The Lady Flyers will travel to Hurricane on Thursday. Snow Canyon dropped to 4-10 overall and 2-2 in Region 9. The Warriors will travel to Desert Hills on Thursday.

Cedar 3, Hurricane 2

After dropping the first two sets, the Lady Reds rebounded and pulled out a match victory by winning the last three sets, 22-25, 23-25, 25-17, 25-20, 15-11.

cedar-logohurricane-logo“It was a hard-fought match on both sides,” said Cedar head coach Nicole Anglin. “We had problems with our serving tonight. Teamwork and execution got us the victory. Katelyn Armstrong kept our momentum going with her middle hitting. Kyley Beatty was consistent on the outside. We got great defense from Shaun Bauman and Dream Weaver.”

For Cedar, Armstrong and Beatty led with 13 and 11 kills. Kylee Field led the team with 32 assists. Dreaam Weaver had a team-high 19 digs. Field and Bauman also recorded double-digit digs with 14 and 10, respectively.

For Hurricane, Kansas Lytle led the team with 10 kills. Hailey Homer dishec out 30 assists. Hollie Isom and Sierra Davis had six and 5 service aces, respectively.

Cedar improves to 8-6 overall and 1-3 in the region while Hurricane drops to 2-10 overall and 0-4 in region. The Lady Reds will travel to Pine View on Thursday while the Lady Tigers will host Dixie.

Region 9 Volleyball Standings
1. Desert Hills 4-0 (16-7)
2. Pine View 3-1 (15-8)
3. Dixie 2-2 (8-5)
4. Snow Canyon 2-2 (4-10)
5. Cedar 1-3 (8-6)
6. Hurricane 0-4 (2-10)

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

 

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