4A high school volleyball: Dixie powers into semifinals

OREM — The Dixie Flyers took their first two steps toward another trip to the 4A volleyball state tournament championship match Friday, and think they're playing their best volleyball of the season at just the right time.

The Mountain View Bruins didn't provide much of a challenge, as they were a little out of synch and the Flyers were just plain on a roll with the 25-13, 25-18, 25-19 victory over the Region 7 champs.

Dixie has lost three straight years in the title match to the Region 9 rival Snow Canyon Warriors, and they're hoping to not only make the championship match this year but finally walk away with the top trophy.

They took care of business against Springville in the first round, largely because of the offensive firepower of Jennika Wright, but then proved in the quarterfinals against the Bruins that they could win with balance as well, as Wright put down seven kills but was outpaced by teammate Ashley Porter, who finished with eight kills, including the match-winner.

"Ashley's our workhorse. She's a smart outside hitter. That's why she's there," said Dixie coach Stacy Leavitt.

But it was truly a whole team effort against the Bruins as the Flyers waltzed into the semifinals. Ivory Boone also added seven kills to the effort while solid setter Jaimee Clark not only finished with 30 assists but also had six digs.

"Jaimee's really been distributing the ball well. Balance is what we've been working on all year, and now it's really starting to work," said Leavitt, who noted that she's pleased her team is playing so well at just the right time again this year.

"These girls love to be here. They just love to come. I think our past experience helps. They really want to be here and compete when they get here," Leavitt added.

Wright proved she isn't just an offensive threat as she added 12 digs and three aces, and Kelsey Griffith added six digs as well.

Even the middles were solid and put up some good blocks. Both Bailey Bundy and Riley Hutchings finished with three kills each.

"We were passing, serving and distributing the ball well. We had some great rallies where we were really showing a lot of heart," added Leavitt.

The Flyers head into the semifinals at 10:30 today at UVU and will play Highland, which made it there by defeating Sky View in four exciting games. Mountain View fell into the fifth-place bracket.

Dixie made it to the quarterfinal match against the Bruins with a 25-18, 27-25, 25-19 victory over a tough Springville team in the first round, taking apart a pair of Utah County teams en route to a semifinal berth.

The Bruins made it into the second round with a solid 25-19, 25-20, 25-22 victory over first-year Stansbury.

Mountain View was led in both matches by Chelsey Schofield, who finished the match against Dixie with a match-high 13 kills. She had help from teammates Heather Glassford and Rachel Steele, who both had solid matches. But there was nothing they could do as the Dixie buzzsaw just took over from early in the first game and was never really threatened.