ST. GEORGE — The 4A state volleyball tournament runs Friday and Saturday at Utah Valley University in Orem, and Region 10 teams are hoping for a championship.
But the road will not be easy as the top three seeds in the tournament (respectively) went to Sky View, Green Canyon and defending state champion Ridgeline, all out of Region 11.
Crimson Cliffs (18-11 overall) won the Region 10 championship and finished 11-1.
The Mustangs, seeded sixth at state, will take on No. 11 Bear River (6-21) Friday morning at 10:30 to open their tournament.
The winner of that contest will face No. 3 Ridgeline Friday at 1:30 p.m. The Riverhawks (21-7) won Region 11 without a loss.
“Having Bear River first will be awesome, then we’ll get to play the other No. 1 team in their region,” Mustangs coach Gabrielle Hasenbeck told St. George News Wednesday evening.
“We’re not shocked by the pairings,” she added. “At the end of the day, we have to play all the best teams and beat all the best teams, so we just take it in stride and get ready to go at it.”
With a nearly all-senior lineup, the Mustangs rely on experience and hope to continue to build on momentum they forged while playing well against top-ranked national teams at a tournament earlier this season in Las Vegas.
“All this year we’ve been working a lot on the mental aspect of sports and what it means and how to react,” Hasenbeck said. “We have been working for this all season. State is exciting but also anxiety-ridden because it’s something you’ve been working so hard for.
“We realize that putting in the effort all season means you have the opportunity to show all that you’ve grown from,” she added. “It’s about making that growth in the season and it’s about the relationships you make along the way. And I would say with this team especially, they have done that 10-fold.”
Desert Hills (19-7), meanwhile, picked up the No. 5 seed at the tournament and plays Region 10 rival and No. 12 seed Pine View (4-20) Friday at 9 a.m.
“Our region was just really tough,” Thunder coach Craig Allred said from the team bus Thursday on the way to Orem. “We dropped a couple the second time through the region. Cedar and Crimson were both really good, and the other teams were good too. Our region prepared us for state.”
The winner of the Thunder-Panthers contest goes on to face the winner of the first-round matchup between No. 4 Cedar (20-7) and No. 13 Logan (1-21), also Friday at 9 a.m.
Cedar finished third in Region 10 with a mark of 9-3.
The Reds finished with the highest RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) number of any region team and earned the highest Region 10 seed (fourth) at the state tournament.
If Desert Hills and Cedar both win their first matches, they’ll face each other in the second round Friday at noon. The Thunder and Reds split their two matches in the regular season with both teams winning 3-1 at home.
“Our biggest concern is getting past Pine View. If we can make it past them we’ll do as good as we can,” Allred said. “I think at state, any path that you can get on is a good path. If we can play our best we’ll make a pretty good run. We’ll just focus on this first one and go from there.”
Hurricane and Dixie will rematch in the first round at state Friday morning at 10:30. The Tigers (10-14) and Flyers (6-16) split their two Region 10 matches in the regular season.
The winner of that contest will face No. 2 seed Green Canyon (23-6).
And finally the first-round matchup between No. 8 Snow Canyon (12-15) and No. 9 Mountain Crest (11-18) will determine who plays No. 1 Sky View (26-2) in the second round, Friday at noon.
St. George News will have complete coverage of Region 10 volleyball teams at state. Full tournament brackets can be viewed here.
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