Lady Spartans second in region mid-season

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports Writer

With the first half of the Region 15 volleyball season in the books the Emery High Lady Spartans are firmly in second place one game behind San Juan. Emery has a 4-1 region record and have played the three hardest teams on the road already so the second half of the season could and should be a little easier schedule for them.
Emery traveled to Moab, always a hard place to place, and defeated Grand 3-1, came home and faced the fourth -ranked Beaver team and won 3-2 and then hosted Wasatch Academy and won 3-0. The scores in the three matches were 25-23, 25-21, 20-25 and 25-22 over Grand, 25-21, 19-25, 21-25, 25-20 and 15-9 over Beaver and 26-24, 25-16 and 25-19 over Wasatch Academy.
Emery is on a three-game win streak, have settled into what appears to be a good rotation and the team is playing as solid as they have played in a long time. Emery over the past few seasons have often been their own worst enemy. Serves into the net often and unforced errors led to the demise of the team in many a game. This season is different.
Some examples of how the Spartans are playing; against Beaver they win the opening set and then lose set two and three and then come back and play their best ball of the night to win the final two games.
Serving is a strength for the team this season rather than a liability and it generally is the entire team.
In game two at Grand, Emery was down 15-21 when they won the point and got the serve back. Senior Sidnee Conder then served nine straight times as Emery won.
In game five against Beaver, Emery was down 8-9 when they scored to get the serve back. Sophomore Bayler Griffin stepped up and served the next six points and Emery won game and match.
Against Wasatch Academy, in the first set Emery was down 22-24 and junior Ashton Bell served to the win, in the second set Emery led 12-8 and junior Emily Olsen served Emery to 20-8 and in the third set with Emery up 15-13, junior Cassidy Labrum took the team to 21-13. The team serves more consistently this season and the entire team is serving well.
Emery is currently ranked in the top five in 2-A volleyball and are looking to get better and better through the second half of the region season. Emery, with a lone senior on the team, appears to be ready to be a force in volleyball this season and into the future.
Emery will host South Sevier tonight, Oct. 8 at the Spartan Center as the second half of the region season starts. On Thursday night, Emery will travel to North Sevier High in Salina to play the Wolves. Good luck Emery.