From Deseret News archives:
Lone Peak spikes Pleasant Grove in 5
The heated rivals battled with intensity throughout as the rollercoaster match took shape. The Knights and Vikings have fought through the finals of three straight state championships and are looking to meet there again as Pleasant Grove brought the No. 2 ranking into the match while Lone Peak stood at No. 3.
But the Vikings had two things going for them heading into this one: the home court advantage and the fact that the Knights had lost just two days earlier to unheralded Timpanogos. They couldn't take advantage of either situation.
"I think the girls regrouped really well. I was proud of them for doing that," said Lone Peak coach Deanna Meyer after her team defeated its biggest rivals.
"We really wanted to come out tonight and play our best game. We had lapses in the course of the game tonight, and I thought they looked a little nervous in the first game," added Meyer. But she saw improvement as her starting lineup is finally getting back into shape.
A few injuries had girls playing out of position and some not playing at all, but the team is finally where she wants it, and she hopes the way they played against the Vikings will be a stepping stone for the rest of the season.
But she doesn't want her team to put the loss to Timpanogos entirely behind them either.
"We've been struggling with consistency, and I think we can focus better in practice after that Timpanogos loss," she said.
Both teams came out to play in Game 1 as the back-and-forth battle brought back memories of past wars. But in the end, a service error helped Pleasant Grove take the one-game lead.
That lead was short-lived as the Knights rushed out to an early Game 2 lead, never looking back and pounding out a 25-10 easy victory.
In Game 3, the Vikings take an early five-point lead but the Knights roared back and took the easy win 25-16 for the 2-1 lead.
"In those two games I think they saw that they could do it, they could play with the great teams and beat them," said Meyer of her team's success in the second and third games.
It wasn't just one person putting up big numbers for Lone Peak as Christie Carpenter put down 13 kills and two blocks, followed by Lacey Cramer's 12 kills. Aubrey Moena also came in and smashed eight kills in the match. But the group that really impressed Meyer was her middles as Jessica Cook combined seven kills with 4.5 blocks, and Caitlin Jensen finished off five kills at key points in the match.
