Region 10 volleyball: Desert Hills, Crimson Cliffs, Cedar stay atop standings with sweeps

Written by E. George Goold
September 13, 2022

ST. GEORGE — Region 10’s top three high school volleyball teams – Desert Hills, Crimson Cliffs and Cedar – all won by sweeps on Tuesday night, further distancing themselves from the region’s other four teams. Following are recaps of Tuesday’s action, along with last Thursday’s scores.

Crimson Cliffs 3, Dixie 0

The Mustangs prevailed 25-18, 25-11, 25-17 in a straight-set sweep in a match where both teams struggled with serving and serve return.

“Our blocking improved, our focus on serving and passing improved, just all of our focus,” Crimson Cliffs head coach Gabrielle Hasenbeck told St. George News.

“Serving starts the game, so if you don’t make your serves, it compounds drastically,” she added, “and we talk about that every single practice, every single game. Serving is important.”

The visiting Mustangs raced out to a 22-16 lead in the first set and finished off a 7-point victory.

Dixie players return service from Crimson Cliffs in a Region10 volleyball match, St. George, Utah, Sept. 13, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Then Daidy Hurst hit home a kill and Crimson jumped ahead 5-1 in the second set. Tehanie Waters served an ace and Riann Gines’ booming kill made the lead 11-2.

Dixie would win side out but twice was stopped by two service errors into the net and Crimson led 16-4. Another service error made it 22-8 Mustangs before Adah Elam banged home a kill to secure the set victory.

While serving problems really hurt Dixie, Crimson was also afflicted by errors from the backline – just fewer of them.

“Even today when we missed some serves, we got back our focus and made sure we limited our service errors,” Hasenbeck said.

Dixie started the third set with consecutive serves into the net and another kill from Hurst gave Crimson an early 3-1 lead. 

Dixie libero Kylie Lloyd steadied the ship for the Flyers with an ace and another service winner, and a strong kill from  Abby Dye cut Crimson’s lead to 7-4. The set would go on to be tied at 8, 9, 10 and 14.

But the Mustangs were too much for the Flyers to handle down the stretch and Crimson Cliffs won its fourth consecutive Region 10 match, improving to 4-1 in region, 7-3 overall. The Mustangs next play Snow Canyon, at home, on Sept. 20.

Meanwhile Dixie slipped to 1-4 region, 5-10 overall after the setback. The Flyers host Pine View Thursday at 7 p.m. 

Cedar 3, Snow Canyon 0

At Cedar, the Reds defeated the Warriors 25-20, 25-20, 25-22. 

Cedar host Snow Canyon in Region 10 volleyball match, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 13, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

The first two games were deadlocked early on, but Cedar gradually pulled away in each. Snow Canyon held a five-point lead late in the third set before the Reds rallied to win the sweep.

“We started with a lot of serving errors but we were able to work through it,” Cedar head coach Nicole Anglin said afterward. “We served well at the end. They all contributed.”

Emery Harrison led the way for Cedar with 11 kills and three aces, while Liko Fallau added six kills and two aces. Also for the Reds, Bird Allen had 24 assists, in addition to four kills.

The win marked the second straight victory for the Reds, who next travel to face the region-leading Desert Hills Thunder on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

Snow Canyon, which fell to 2-2 in region play with the loss, will host the Hurricane Tigers on Thursday evening.

– written by Jeff Richards

Desert Hills 3, Hurricane 0

At Hurricane, the Thunder swept the Tigers, 25-20, 25-18, 25-21. Desert Hills thereby avenged its 3-2 loss to Hurricane just three nights earlier. Saturday’s contest was a non-league matchup.

Desert Hills, which stayed unbeaten in region play with Tuesday’s victory, will next host Cedar on Thursday, while Hurricane will travel to play Snow Canyon that same evening, with both varsity contests scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Last Thursday’s games

Cedar 3, Hurricane 0

The Reds swept the Tigers, 25-18, 25-18, 25-14.

Desert Hills 3, Snow Canyon 0

At Desert Hills, the Thunder picked up a sweep of the Warriors, 25-18, 25-14, 25-11.

Crimson Cliffs 3, Pine View 0

The Mustangs swept the Panthers at home, 25-13, 25-12, 25-14.

Region 10 volleyball standings as of Sept. 14 (region record, overall)

  1. Desert Hills 4-0, 11-5.
  2. Crimson Cliffs 4-1, 6-3.
  3. Cedar 3-1, 8-4.
  4. Snow Canyon 2-2, 7-7.
  5. Dixie 1-3, 5-9.
  6. Hurricane 1-4, 9-9.
  7. Pine View 0-4, 3-8.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric George Goold came to St. George News from southwestern Colorado, where he was a radio news reporter. He has been a journalist for over 20 years in five different states. He graduated with a master's degree in English from Kansas State University and writes nonfiction as well. Goold has been published in Sunstone Magazine and has done multiple public readings about local history. When he has free time, he enjoys chess, movies and dogs.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

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