Lehi Sports
Pioneer girls volleyball falls to ranked foes
Beky Beaton / Lehi Free Press
The Lehi girls volleyball team has found the going tough against the highly-ranked teams in the gauntlet of Region 3, dropping their last three contests. The team is now 6-5 on the season.
Sept. 17: American Fork 3, Lehi 1
The Pioneers made a fast start against the No. 6 Cavemen and surprised them in the first set 25-23. The hosts responded by closing out the match in the subsequent three games 25-15, 25-17, 25-13.
Junior outside hitter Aliya Shewell sparked the Lehi offense with 14 kills and six aces, also taking 11 serve-receives. Sophomore middle blocker Laken Bell added eight kills and 17 serve-receives.
Junior setter Aftyn Hurst served three aces and led the team in digs with 14 and serve-receives with 33. Junior middle blocker Alea Tauai dug 10 times and made 24 assists.
Sept. 22: Skyridge 3, Lehi 0
The visiting Pioneers fell to the No. 2 Falcons in straight sets 25-14, 25-16, 25-17. Shewell and Tauai led in kills with seven apiece. Junior middle blocker Lucy Lowe added four kills and Bell had three with two aces. Tauai also tallied 10 serve-receives and Bell took 15 serve-receives.
Hurst was once again tops in digs with 14 and serve-receives with 29. Sophomore setter Pais Brems made two solo blocks and dealt 16 assists.
“We didn’t play our best ball this game,” said Coach Alise Bowles. “We started close in all our sets and then just couldn’t finish them out. We let them go on runs and just didn’t have an answer.
“When we would get the ball back, we would have errors,” the coach continued. “We had 32 total unforced errors this match. After this game we had a discussion about how we are capable of competing at a higher level.
“There were some bright spots in this game though,” Bowles added. “Lucy Lowe hit .273 on the night and Alea Tauai hit .312.”
Sept. 24: Corner Canyon 3, Lehi 0
The Pioneers battled hard against the No. 1 Chargers at home, but Corner Canyon still prevailed in the contest 25-20, 25-29, 25-17.
Bell led the attack with nine kills and also took 13 serve-receives. Shewell added six kills and three aces to go with 15 serve-receives. Tauai provided three kills, six digs and 17 serve-receives. Hurst made a team-high 11 digs plus 18 serve-receives while Brems dished out 16 assists.
“We prepped well this for this game,” the coach said. “The girls had a great practice leading up to this match. The girls came out strong and competitive from the passing line with only five errors. We also added a handful of timely blocks, and Paisley Brems would chalk up three of those.
“Our bright spot offensively was Laken Bell hitting .107, nine kills on 28 attempts,” Bowles said. “After this match we feel like we are back on the right track and look forward to starting the second half of region and hosting a varsity round robin tournament on the weekend.”
The Pioneers begin the second round of the Region 3 season on Tuesday (Sept. 29) at Lone Peak. After the tournament, they will welcome American Fork on Tuesday (Oct. 6). Varsity contests are set to begin around 6:30 p.m.
