| Emery High tennis team: assistant coach Willie Frisbie, Lacey Erickson, Callie Seeley, Misty Allen, Eve Guymon, Darian Huntsman, Malory Quick, Jessica Hill, and Coach Tom Hansen. |
The Emery High Lady Spartans split two home games last week as they are still struggling to beat the elite teams. On Tuesday, Emery lost to North Sanpete in three straight games 18-25, 12-25 and 27-29. On Thursday, they defeated Juan Diego Catholic High School in five games 25-18, 22-25, 23-25, 25-11 and 15-6.
Beating the Granite High School’s, the Delta High School’s and the Juan Diego’s is not the problem for the Lady Spartans. Defeating the North Sanpete’s, the Carbon’s or the Morgan’s is the problem because those teams are beatable by this Spartan program, this team and this program is capable of being State champions if they only will believe in themselves and play to their potential.
Against North Sanpete, Emery had unforced error after unforced error to really never give themselves a chance. North Sanpete blocked well, served adequately and were basically a fundamentally sound team but they are beatable because Emery has more natural talent and that is the frustrating thing about this team. They are good and should be winning every game, period.
Against Juan Diego, they toyed with them in the first game to win by seven points. Emery then allowed Juan Diego to steal the second game with mistakes and nonchalance. In game three, Emery had 13 unforced errors as they squandered a 15-4 advantage and a 23-18 edge to lose by two.
In the final two games of the night, Emery rolled. They grabbed the lead early in both games and soundly defeated their opponent. They limited their errors to five in the two games. No serves into the net, no serves into the cheerleaders, no out of position players, just good all around play.
Take the last game for example. Emery scored on a good serve followed by another point off a Natalee Hanson spike. Shaylie Huntington then slammed a return hit for a point and then proceeded to serve three aces in a row. For point seven it was a great hit at the net for Camille Fehlberg and point nine was a block by Tahna Merrill. Point 12 came as Natalee and Tahna had good play at the net to finally score after three different returns by Juan Diego. Shaylie had a touch hit for point 14 and Ashley Hansen finished off the match with a block. A good collection of talent for Emery as you add in Haylie Hansen, Rachel Rasmussen, Jalee Jensen and Kassie Allred.
Emery’s JV team defeated North Sanpete 15-25, 25-21, 15-10 and 15-9. They also defeated Juan Diego 25-18, 25-17 and 15-10. This team starts two juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen. They play well together and they keep their mistakes at a minimum. This bodes well for the future at Emery High School.
As Emery continues to build a solid volleyball program, they must learn to take charge and control the outcome of each and every game rather than letting their opponent dictate the play. If they play to win, they will. You can catch the Spartans at home this Thursday against the Carbon Dinos after they travel to Delta tonight.