Lone Peak claims 5A volleyball crown

OREM — They were undefeated against state competition all year, and then they took their first 5A state championship. The Lone Peak Knights set out to win it all at the very beginning of a long season, and they accomplished just that. But it didn't go exactly as planned.

First, Skyline grabbed a game from the dominating Knights as Lone Peak won 25-21, 21-25, 25-16, 25-18. But it was a couple of scares from two of the Knights' leading players that really had them concerned. When Faith Tusieseina woke up she found she was very ill and unable to keep anything down.

Then, near the end of their semifinal match against Viewmont, Aubrey Muaina went down with an ankle injury.

It all combined to make the huge favorites a little more nervous than they would have liked.

"I scared myself. They were a little nervous," said Lone Peak coach Deanna Meyer, who noted that two of her team's biggest strengths are its depth and versatility. "We have a lot of options out there."

One of those options sucked it up early in the day and played despite her illness.

"I was crying, but it's state. You can't let something get in the way," said Tusieseina after pounding down 16 kills and two blocks in the championship match and getting herself named tournament MVP.

"It was one of the best feelings of my life going undefeated in state and taking the state championship," she said, adding that she didn't think they were mentally prepared for Skyline to take a game off of them.

But the setting efforts of Chelsea Fa'alolo and the hitting of Emily Dunn, who finished with 11 kills, and Whitney Nilson, who finished with eight, got it done in the second game and stole one with a great effort.

"Skyline came out to play, and I give them credit for that," said Meyer, but her girls came back after letting the Eagles tie things up at a game apiece.

"We just thought we've gotta keep on going until things start to fall our way. It was huge pressure (to be such a favorite) but it's alright," said Lacey Cramer, who finished with nine kills, nine digs and three aces in the final match.

And most of the sets came from Lacey Laycock, one of the top setters and servers in the state, who finished with 42 assists and eight digs. She's been quarterbacking the No. 1 team in the state for two seasons and was happy when her team finally got the jitters out and started playing Lone Peak volleyball.

The Knights came back from a small deficits in every game of the match, but it was Cramer that finished things off in Game 3 with a pair of kills.