Lone Peak still unbeaten

AMERICAN FORK — Lacey Laycock aced her way into the record books as her Lone Peak Knights dominated American Fork 25-19, 25-21, 25-15 to remain undefeated in both Region 4 and against all other instate competition.

The two teams were tied atop the Region 4 standings prior to this match as neither team had lost, but now the Knights are exactly where they've been all season long in the state — all by themselves on top.

But it was game one that shocked and amazed when Laycock served up seven straight aces to give her team an 8-0 lead. The Cavemen just couldn't make up the huge deficit, and they also had a tough time figuring out Laycock's serve for the rest of the match, as she finished with a state record 13 aces in only three games.

"She has a jump serve and it drops," said Lone Peak coach Deanna Meyer.

The Lone Peak setter added 30 assists and four kills to her amazing service match, and Meyer noted that she'd probably improved her ace-to-error ratio to where the coach would like it to be.

Game two saw four more Laycock aces, but perhaps the most entertaining moment happened when Tatum Porter used her head for a kill as her hit went off the Lone Peak block and hit her in the back of the head as she turned away. But the resulting bounce dumped back onto the Lone Peak side of the net and found a hole for the kill.

As usual, the Lone Peak attack was extremely balanced, and the team was led offensively by 11 kills from Lacey Cramer and nine kills by Faith Tusieseina. Defensively, Cari Shumway added nine digs to the overall effort, and Hillary finished with two blocks in addition to her five kills.

The team was a little weary after a trip back to the Nike Challenge in Chicago, where it played against some of the toughest competition the nation has to offer.

"I think it was good for us to come off a tourney and play well," said Meyer, who noted that the travel back on Sunday hadn't given the Knights much chance to rest after finishing second in the silver medal round and 10th overall at the Challenge.

They went into the tournament ranked 38th nationally and managed a 3-2 record overall but had no problems getting back into league action and taking care of business against perhaps the toughest competition Region 4 has to offer.

The Cavemen were led by 11 kills from Makenzie Moea'i and six kills from setter Rae Mulitalo, who was once again a bright spot for the Cavemen.

The Knights will meet Lehi on Thursday in league action trying to keep their undefeated record intact. American Fork will take its first loss into a match against Timpanogos.

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E-mail: jolsen@desnews.com