Region 9 volleyball teams wrap up regular season, look ahead to playoffs

Dixie at Desert Hills, St. George, Utah, Oct. 13, 2020 | Photo by Dave Larson, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — The Region 9 volleyball season officially ended with a single contest Tuesday night, with the Snow Canyon Warriors sweeping Pine View at home.

The statewide final RPI rankings were unveiled Wednesday morning by the Utah High School Activities Association, along with the 4A playoff bracket and schedule.

Region 9 champion Desert Hills, who finished the regular season with a 13-1 region record, 19-8 overall, earned the No. 3 seed in the state tournament. As one of the top eight seeds, the Thunder will host a pod of first-round matches Saturday afternoon.

First up will be No. 14 Cedar and No. 19 Stansbury on the Desert Hills court at 1 p.m., after which Desert Hills will play the winner of that match.

Region 9 runner-up Snow Canyon, which won 3-0 against Pine View on Tuesday, finished the season ranked sixth in the RPI rankings with a 12-2 region record, 17-7 overall. The Warriors will open the playoffs by hosting 11th-seeded Ogden on Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Dixie Flyers, who finished 10-4 in region play, 15-11 overall, earned the ninth seed in the tournament and will travel to Draper to face No. 8 seed Juan Diego Catholic High School on Saturday afternoon.

Dixie at Desert Hills, St. George, Utah, Oct. 13, 2020 | Photo by Dave Larson, St. George News

Crimson Cliffs, which lost its season finale Oct 13 at Cedar, still finished in fourth in the Region 9 standings with an 8-6 region record, while Cedar placed fifth with a 7-7 record, 13-14 overall. Crimson Cliffs will play at seventh-seeded Ridgeline on Saturday.

In another game in Northern Utah’s Cache County. Region 9 rivals Pine View and Hurricane will face each other at Sky View High School in Smithfield, with the winner advancing to play top-seeded Sky View later that afternoon.

Finally, 20th-seeded Canyon View will travel to Tooele and play 13th-seeded Green Canyon, with the winner of that game advancing to play No. 4 seed Tooele, the host team of that pod.

To see the complete 4A bracket, click here. Note that the default starting time for Saturday’s pod games is 1 p.m., but starting times may be subject to change.

The other six teams in the region played their last regular season matches Oct. 13. Desert Hills defeated Dixie 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 25-11) to clinch the region title outright. Meanwhile, at Cedar, the Reds dropped their first two games against Crimson Cliffs, 22-25 and 23-25. but came back to win the next three, 25-22, 27-25 and 15-7. See photos of both of those matches in the gallery below this story.

Also on Oct. 13, Canyon View traveled to Pine View in hopes of getting their first region win. The Falcons led 2-1 after three games, but the Panthers rallied to capture the last two and the match. Additionally, Snow Canyon made a home sweep of Hurricane on Oct. 13, then did the same to Pine View one week later, thereby finishing second in the region standings.

Region 9 final volleyball standings (region record, overall, RPI)

  1. Desert Hills 13-1 (19-8) 3rd RPI.
  2. Snow Canyon 12-2 (17-7) 6th RPI.
  3. Dixie 10-4 (15-11) 9th RPI.
  4. Crimson Cliffs 8-6 (14-11) 10th RPI.
  5. Cedar 7-7 (13-14) 14th RPI.
  6. Pine View 3-11 (5-17) 16th RPI.
  7. Hurricane 3-11 (7-20) 17th RPI.
  8. Canyon View 0-14 (6-17) 20th RPI.

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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