Knights on track for 5A volleyball title

OREM — The Lone Peak Knights came into this year's 5A state volleyball tournament with high expectations, and they're right on track to meeting all of them after a couple of quick victories in the first two rounds.

After defeating Northridge in three straight in their first match of the day, they came out and did the same thing to Hunter in the second round, downing the Wolverines 25-12, 25-15, 25-23 Friday to move into the semifinals against Viewmont today at 10:30 am at the McKay Events Center.

"They have goals, and they're trying hard to get them. They have everything they need to be able to accomplish that," said Lone Peak coach Deanna Meyer, who discussed her team's yearlong No. 1 state ranking and the fact that they are out for a state championship and nothing less. She also said that her team has to come out and play volleyball and be consistent.

"We need to leave it all on the court. We need to minimize our errors and maximize our opportunities, and we should be OK," Meyer added.

Once again Lone Peak setter Lacey Laycock took charge on the court, quarterbacking her team with both efficiency and flair. She finished with 35 assists and seven service aces in her match against the Wolverines after starting the day with 30 assists and nine aces against Northridge.

She spread around her sets to a variety of Knight hitters, all of whom played a solid and balanced match, with Faith Tusieseina leading the way with 11 kills and only one error in just 14 attempts. Aubrey Muaina added eight kills with no errors in 14 attempts, and Lacey Cramer finished with seven kills and nine digs.

Hillary Olsen was strong in the middle, especially at the top of Game 1 as she contributed six kills with no errors to go along with a solid blocking match. A variety of players led the Knights in the back court as Heather Hannemann, Kylie Heaps, Cari Shumway and Anna Burgess each contributed defensively.

"I think the girls did a good job of coming into state and settling in," said Meyer of the team with the huge target on its back. And she's pleased with the way everything has gone so far in the tourney.

The Knights rolled over Hunter in the first game of the match and appeared on target to do the same in the second as they took a huge 22-5 lead, but the Wolverines took a strong stand and picked up 10 straight points behind the solid serving of Inne Pataialii, who included a pair of aces in her run.

But they couldn't keep it together as the Knights went on to victory in that game before Hunter came on strong and battled Lone Peak through nine ties in Game 3 before Lone Peak finally took the victory on a Cramer kill.

Kiyana Aiono and Katrina Iosua each had big games for the Wolverines, and Hunter will move into the consolation bracket to battle Brighton at 10:30 a.m. today.

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