Region 10 volleyball: Defending champion Desert Hills wins big in opener; Cedar, Hurricane also win

Written by E. George Goold
August 30, 2022

ST. GEORGE — Volleyball action around Region 10 cranked it up a notch as teams began the region portion of the schedule and resumed local rivalries.

Desert Hills and Hurricane both won on the road while Cedar defended its home court. Following are recaps of Tuesday night’s volleyball matches. 

Desert Hills 3, Crimson Cliffs 1

They might have a new cast of characters, but after one match at least, the defending Region 10 champions look like they might even be better than last year.

In a well-played four setter, the Thunder rolled to a 25-16, 26-24, 20-25, 25-16 victory over the scrappy Mustangs.

“I thought our level of fight was really, really good,” Desert Hills coach Craig Allred told St. George News after the win. “I think both teams will probably feel like we’ll improve our volleyball skills throughout, but I thought both teams had a lot of fight.”

Crimson Cliffs and Desert Hills in a Region 10 volleyball match, Washington, Utah, Aug. 30, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Desert Hills established a powerful frontline early as Saidey Spencer, Anna Jenson and Malika Andresen all had kills to power the Thunder to a 19-13 first set lead.

Then Andresen’s monster block made it 22-14 and Spencer’s kill secured the win.

The second set was a barn-burner as large and loud student sections cheered on both teams. 

The teams battled each other point for point, tying each other at 15, 19, 20, 22 and 24.

Spencer’s tip for a point followed by an ace from Brooklyn Wilson provided the final margin in favor of Desert Hills.

“Brook Wilson as our Libero, I thought she made a huge difference for us today, both in her serve-receive and then just a couple of hustle plays,” Allred said. “She made a few plays that really changed the momentum of the game at different times.”

Crimson rallied for a solid third-set win. Ella Jones served an ace and Riann Gines had big block as the Mustangs built a big lead, then Daidy Hurst took over for Crimson Cliffs.

Hurst banged home three kills and Crimson led 23-14. Desert Hills ran off a string of points before Callie Finlinson’s kill sent the match into its fourth set.

The Thunder’s front line of Spencer, Jenson and Hallee Heath took command in that set. Tatum Gardner played with high energy and Jenson started booming off some hard hits from the outside as Desert Hills put an exclamation point on the win.

“These players absolutely love each other,” Allred said. “I don’t know if I’ve had a group with just the chemistry they have. They’re ultra-competitive in practice, but they’re ultra supportive of each other at game time, which is a really, really tough combination. The chemistry is there.”

Hurricane 3, Pine View 1

The Tigers went to the Panthers’ gym and won 25-14, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19.

Halle Wilkinson finished with a team-high 13 kills for Pine View while Abby Gilmore led the way with 15 digs. Avery Tueller finished with 24 assists for the Panthers.

Statistics for Hurricane were not available at press time.

Pine View is at Snow Canyon while Hurricane hosts Dixie on Thursday. Both matches are at 7 p.m.

Cedar 3, Dixie 1

At Cedar, the Reds defeated the Dixie Flyers 3-1 in the Region 10 volleyball opener.

Cedar hosts Dixie in Region 10 volleyball match, Cedar City, Utah, Aug, 30, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Cedar started strong, jumping out to an early 13-2 lead in the first set and going on to win 25-16. The Reds kept the momentum going in the second set, maintaining the lead throughout and winning 25-18.

Dixie then bounced back in the third set, building an early lead and rolling to a 25-15 win.

“I just think we got a little frustrated and we weren’t playing to our level,” Cedar coach Nicole Anglin said of the third set.

The fourth game was closely fought, with the scoreboard showing several ties all the way up to 14-14. At that point, the Reds started to pull away, taking a 19-15 lead before the Flyers called time out.

Dixie’s Kavya Patel served three straight points, but Cedar rallied back to go up 23-19 while junior Nyah Barnes was serving. The Reds ultimately won the fourth set 25-21 and captured the match.

Junior hitter Emery Harrison led the Reds with 18 kills and three service aces, while fellow junior Bird Allen recorded 25 assists and three aces. Sophomore Annalyse Shimada added seven kills and two blocks.

The Reds improved to 6-3 overall, 1-0 in Region 10 play with the victory.

“We played some good teams (during the preseason) and we’re ready to keep growing and reaching our potential here,” Anglin said after the match.

– written by Jeff Richards

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric George Goold came to St. George News from southwestern Colorado, where he was a radio news reporter. He has been a journalist for over 20 years in five different states. He graduated with a master's degree in English from Kansas State University and writes nonfiction as well. Goold has been published in Sunstone Magazine and has done multiple public readings about local history. When he has free time, he enjoys chess, movies and dogs.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

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