Last week Emery High, Juab High and Manti High met in Mt. Pleasant on the floor of North Sanpete High to battle for the final slot from region 12 in this year’s 3-A state tournament. Each of the three had lost twice to the other three region teams and then had gone 1-1 against the other two to need the play-in game.
Emery played Manti in the first game, with the winner moving on to Juab and the loser was through in the best of three series. Emery won the first match 2-0 over Manti to advance. Juab then defeated Emery 2-1 to advance to the state tournament to face Morgan High, the number one ranked team and the favorite to win it all.
Against Manti, Emery won 25-20 and 25-22. The first game was tied at 10-10 before Emery gradually pulled away to get the win. Emery led game two 16-14 before Manti took an 18-17 lead. Emery went back on top at 20-19 and 22-20 before getting the win.
Against Juab, the Wasps grabbed an 8-1 lead at the onset of game one before Emery battled back to tie the game at 14-14. The game stayed even until 19-19 and then Juab pulled away. In game two, Emery grabbed an 8-2 lead, built it to 21-9 and then won easily at 25-13. Emery lost the tie breaking game 25-21. The game was even at 10-10, at 16-16 and at 18-18. Juab then reeled off seven straight points to take control and grab the win with the dubious task of facing Morgan in the tournament, which started the next Friday.
In the 3-A state tournament, North Sanpete defeated Morgan 3-2 for the state championship while Richfield defeated Delta 3-1 for third place. No wonder these three other teams that had to have play-in games had a tough time defeating their region mates; they were the best in the state.
In the first round at Utah Valley University, Delta defeated Juan Diego 3-2, Morgan defeated Juab 3-0, North Sanpete defeated Judge 3-2 and Richfield defeated Bear River 3-1.
In the quarterfinals, Delta defeated Grantsville 3-1, Morgan defeated Desert Hills 3-0, North Sanpete defeated the defending state champion Hurricane 3-0 and Richfield defeated Wasatch 3-0.
In the semi-finals, North Sanpete defeated Delta 3-0 and Morgan defeated Richfield 3-2. In region play this season, Richfield went undefeated in winning the region title, Delta finished second and North Sanpete finished third.
Richfield then defeated Delta 3-1 to finish third and North Sanpete finished their dream run by defeating the favorite Morgan 3-2.
Season ends for Lady Spartan Volleyball
"Emery High senior volleyball players Nikki Rogers, Kristianne Grange, Danavin Reed, Ashley Alger, Abbie Kay and Tiffany Tuttle were honored at their last home volleyball match on Oct. 20."