High school volleyball: Pleasant Grove Vikings offense earns victory over American Fork

The women’s volleyball team for the number one ranked Pleasant Grove High School hosted American Fork High Thursday night in a match that started off with extensive volleys and tight equalizations and eventually ended in a 3-1(25-18, 25-15, 25-21, 25-8) victory for Pleasant Grove.

Pleasant Grove head coach Allece Jones is in her first season after leaving as head coach at American Fork to be with her alma mater.

“I have a good relationship with all those girls,” Jones said in regards to American Fork. “So seeing them play and develop is something that I love to see.”

Because Jones was their former head coach, American Fork athletes had high emotions coming into the game.

“It definitely made us want to fight harder,” AF outside-hitter Katelynn “Kakes” Goulding said. “But I’m happy for her.”

American Fork communicated as a team and stared off the first set distributing the ball and making blocks. AF’s Kelsey Leetham scored her second kill breaking a tie at 8-9. The kill was a start to the Lady Cavemen’s eight-point run giving them a lead to win the set 25-18.

“I felt like we came out strong,” American Fork head coach Stephanie Hodgman said. “We came out ready to fight and wanting to give them a good game.”

The Viking’s would come back during the second set to match up the eight-point run from American Fork with one of their own. Middle-blocker Katherine Biggs scored a pair of kills while outside hitter Delayne Daniel scored four, her last point would win the set at 25-15.

“When you get in that mode and you play as a team, it’s fun,” Daniel said. “We just needed momentum; we needed something to get us started.”

American Fork implemented strong defense, evidenced by the Vikings' lead never exceeding four points in the third set. However, the 25-21 win was the momentum Daniel was referring to as the offense of Pleasant Grove took off in the fourth set with multiple aces and strong kills leading to a quick 25-8 win to end the game at 3-1.

Kevin Olsen writes for the sports column at Utah Valley University, and can be reached at (801) 471-8895 or kvncups12@gmail.com