3A, 2A, 1A volleyball: 4 years later, Morgan finally clinches 20th title in school history

OREM — The winningest volleyball program in state history is back on top.

After three-straight trips to the state final with a runner-up finish, the Morgan girls volleyball team summited the mountain for the 20th time in school history and downed Richfield 25-27, 25-10, 25-19, 25-10 at the UCCU Center at Utah Valley University.

This one, though, felt a little different for Morgan coach Liz Wiscombe, who improved on her individual record with a 23rd championship between two stops at Delta and Morgan.

Maybe it was the senior-laden roster, or maybe it was that Wiscombe just got tired of finishing second every year since the top-seeded Trojans (25-6) last won in 2018.

Whatever it was, the second-winningest coach in Utah prep volleyball history — and the one with the most titles — clutched the trophy with emotion as she watched her players celebrate a few dozen feet away.

"Second place, you just go home and you beat yourself up for a year," Wiscombe said. "Then you go back again and get second place again. But these kids worked so hard. They're mentally tough kids and very talented. But I really like these kids, personally; they're great people, and every time I come to practice, I learned great lessons from them.

"They are amazing people off the court, as well as on. I love them to death; I'd do anything for them."

Neither team led by more than 4 points in the first set, which was tied as late as 24-24 when Richfield (23-9) fought off a set-point opportunity through Nicole Willardson. The Wildcats then went to their leading hitter who averaged 4.3 kills per set during the regular season on three-straight possessions to take the opening stanza 27-25 and put Morgan in an early deficit.

The Trojans needed to get their middle hitters involved, so Wiscombe challenged them. And they responded in a big way through Alyvia Jaffa and the rest of the inside presence.

Morgan could place second, or they could place first. They've won second enough lately; they didn't want it again, their coach said.

"They battled tonight," Wiscombe added. "Morgan is a middle's game. We've got some great outsides, but we always run a lot in the middle because other schools don't see it a lot. When you get a real strong middle, it's different for other teams.

"We had to have our outsides, we had to have our middles. But it was awful fun."

Morgan took command of the second set early, with back-to-back blocks and a couple of kills from Tori Smith pacing a 20-5 start. Emma Thurston wrapped up the comeback with an ace to take the 25-10 win.

Amaya Rogers capped a 5-0 run to help Morgan turn a 13-10 deficit into a 15-13 edge, and the Trojans took the third set 25-19 on Grace Thomsen's kill.

It was more of the same in the final set for Morgan, from Gentry Criddle's block to go up 18-8 to Jaffa's back-to-back stuffs to take a 22-9 advantage. So when the Trojans had a chance to put the final match point away, there was only one person who could take it as Jaffa stuffed the final point on a putback that was four years in the making.

"It's got to feel emotionally awesome for these seniors, to finish this time the right way," Wiscombe said. "They battled hard, and they played good teams before; I thought Richfield was a great team, and I thought, 'I hope we can hang with these guys.' I was proud of these kids."

2A championship: Parowan 3, Kanab 1

The top-seeded Rams battled back after a first-set loss to beat the Cowboys 23-25, 25-16, 25-13, 25-23 to clinch their first volleyball title in school history at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield.

Parowan (29-1) lost just one set in four state tournament matches, including straight-set sweep of 13th-seeded South Sevier in Saturday morning's semifinal. In the title match, the Rams avenged their only loss of the season on Oct. 11 at Kanab.

1A championship: Rich 3, Panguitch 2

Rich stormed to a 2-0 lead, then held off Panguitch's reverse-sweep attempt to survive for the Rebels' third-straight championship 25-23, 25-20, 17-25, 14-25, 15-13 Friday at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield.

With the win, Rich (22-6) won its 18th title in program history. But the Rebels had to go to a decisive fifth set after winning the first two by a total of 7 points.

Tabiona held off 11th-seeded Piute in the third-place match 25-20, 25-19, 22-25, 21-25, 15-10 in Richfield.

4A volleyball:

Gonzaga-bound Damuni helps Ridgeline repeat as champs

Gonzaga commit Nia Damuni dished out 15 assists with four kills and three aces, and junior Ashley Anderson added 12 assists, eight kills and a pair of aces as Ridgeline overwhelmed Desert Hills in straight sets 25-21, 25-8, 25-16 for the sixth-year program's second state title at the UCCU Center at Utah Valley University.

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