5A high school volleyball: Bengals best Darts to advance

OREM — Brighton setter Lori Mendenhall's goal isn't just to run an efficient offense. It's to inspire confidence in her young teammates.

"They really look to her. She's made everyone on the team feel important," said Brighton head coach Kathy Mendenhall after the Bengals earned a quarterfinal win in the 5A state tournament in a marathon match against Davis, 25-18, 25-23, 24-26, 25-12. "It's her personality, her leadership. When someone hits a ball into the net, she goes right back to them."

The senior led a perfectly balanced attack against the talented, determined Darts. She earned 44 assists with nearly every hitter earning an impressive number of kills. Emily Mendenhall and Nakisha Wilden each earned 13 kills, while Megan Johnson and Rebekah Meads added seven kills each. Emily Mendenhall also earned 11 digs in the win.

Lori's leadership isn't as much about fancy speeches as it is just a positive attitude and an unwavering faith in her teammates.

"Sometimes they just get down on themselves," said Lori Mendenhall, who will play volleyball for Idaho State next year. "They just need someone to tell them they're doing a good job."

The Bengals will take on a familiar foe in this morning's semifinal when they face Region 4 rival Lone Peak at 10:30 a.m. The Bengals have won two of three matches against the Knights this season.

"The last time we played them, we lost, so it will be fun to play them again," said Lori.

Kathy Mendenhall said it says something about how tough Region 4 was that the top three seeds are all in today's semifinal.

As for Friday night's match, it was a little closer than the coach would have liked, but she was proud of how the young team performed under pressure.

"They just played good when they needed to," she said. "I asked one of the freshman after this morning's game if this is what she expected and she said, 'No, this is scary.' "

That's why Friday's quarterfinal win against Davis was so important to the team.

"They have really nice hitters and to get a win over a good team like that, it just really feels good," said Kathy. "The kids are just playing well. They're not feeling the pressure at all."

e-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com