OREM — After opening the day with a dominating win over Roy, Cottonwood continued to roll, defeating Sky View in four to take fifth place at the 4A State tournament on Saturday.

The Colts, last year's state champion, bounced back from a second-round loss to Box Elder on Friday with two Saturday wins.

The Bobcats, who defeated region rival Bonneville in five earlier in the day, finished seventh with the loss.

"It's tough. It's a lot of pressure to repeat, and it really increases once you walk into this arena," Cottonwood coach Bob Barrett said. "We played good against Box Elder, but they played better. I'm proud we could come back and win these games."

In the first game, with the score tied at 11, Cottonwood went on an 8-3 run from which Sky View could never recover. The Colts were led by Melissa Fifita's five kills and ace in the game.

The Bobcats battled back in the second game. With the score even at 22-22, senior Natalie Harris came up with a big block off a back-row kill attempt, junior Josselyn White pounded a kill and junior Kamisha Larsen ended the game on an ace to give Sky View the 25-23 win.

The third game was replete with streaks. The Colts jumped out to a 7-3 lead before the Bobcats fought back to tie it at 11. Cottonwood then rattled off seven straight points, including back-to-back aces by Caitlin Levu, before Sky View rallied back with four straight. The Colts then earned four points in a row, en route to the 25-19 win.

In the hard-fought fourth game, the score was tied eleven different times. With the score tied at 18, Cottonwood senior Malia Manutai and freshman Alydia Fields crushed back-to-back kills to put the Colts ahead for good.

Fifita led Cottonwood with 14 kills and 31 digs. Last year's 4A MVP, Kaili Aiono, contributed eight kills and seven blocks, while Fields also tallied eight kills. Sophomore setter Emily Atkinson had 20 assists.

"We could have done better, but we had a lot of fun," Salt Lake Community College bound Aiono said.

White led the Bobcats with 12 kills, while Harris added eight kills and six blocks in the loss.

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