Volleyball Tournament: Two Region Champions Bumped from Top Bracket
by Jay Drew, The Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake Tribune
OREM - Perhaps the North Summit Braves and Enterprise Wolves should have worn those "Survivor" headbands that the San Juan Broncos sported at the Class 2-A volleyball tournament on Thursday. Maybe the champions of Region 14 and Region 13, respectively, would not have been ousted from the championship bracket so quickly.
North Summit's loss was one of the biggest stunners of the first day, as North Sevier, Region 12's third-place team, surprised the Braves in a quarterfinal match that went to five games at Utah Valley State College's McKay Events Center.
The Wolves took the fifth game 15-13 when North Summit committed a service error. The other games went 26-24, 20-25, 22-25 and 28-26.
The other surprise was Waterford's four-game win over Enterprise in the quarterfinals. The Ravens, who were second in Region 14, won that match 25-19, 25-18, 27-29 and 25-18.
Joining North Sevier and Waterford in today's 2 p.m. semifinals will be Richfield and San Juan. Waterford meets San Juan and Richfield plays North Sevier for the third time.
The 2-A state championship match is tonight at 7.
San Juan players wore white headbands emblazoned with "Survivor" to remind them of a drill they do back in Blanding in which those who make mistakes are voted, temporarily, off the island known as the varsity squad. But the Broncos weren't especially crisp in a 3-1 win over Rowland Hall.
"It took us a while to start working together," said junior Haven Webb. "Once we did, we got it going."
Getting kicked off the varsity squad, she noted, "is pretty sucky."
Heather Meyer led the Broncos with 20 kills, while Mindy Bradford and Emma Bayles had seven apiece. Aysia Shumway and Kelli Christensen combined for 38 assists.
For Rowland Hall, Molly Jones had nine kills, five blocks and 23 digs, and Jerica Johnson had 14 blocks and seven kills.
Consolation matches in the tournament resume today at 9:30 a.m.
drew@sltrib.com