Monticello volleyball team wins two, finishes seventh in 1A state tournament

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The Monticello High School volleyball team entered the 1A Utah State Tournament as the seventh seed on Friday, October 24 at Utah Valley University in Orem.
The Lady Buckaroos took on #10 Piute in their second round match, defeating the Lady Thunderbirds in four sets to advance to the quarterfinal round.
Piute won the opening set 25-23 but Monticello rallied to win three straight 25-17, 25-18, and 25-19 to secure the victory.
It was a solid turnaround for Monticello as the team had lost to Piute earlier in the season in five sets on September 5 in Piute. It also was the Lady Buckaroos’ 15th win of the season.
In the quarterfinals Friday afternoon Monticello came up against a tough Rich Lady Rebels squad who were ranked second coming into the tournament.
Monticello Head Coach Janna Sandefur takes over with a description of the Rich match for the Lady Bucks:
“Again we started set one down 7-1 and fought back only to end up short 25-23. Set two we were not there mentally and really needed to pull from our bench to get things going.
“Sophomores Emery Morrison and Olivia Plemons along with freshman Ayslee Whipple came in and did their jobs well.
“With the loss of the first two sets the girls calmed down and started to work on one ball at a time, which is how we have played all season long.
“We began to have some dynamic defensive plays by Marlee Mack and Madie Adair who both came up with 15 digs. The blocking combination of Maron Freestone and Josie Mack came away with four solid blocks.
“Shelby Rogers and Makenna Peterson add two more blocks. Our setters, Josie Mack and Makenna Peterson, mixed things up enough to pull Rich’s defense off, allowing us to score from the posts.
“We took a tight third set but fell short 26-24 in the fourth set. We just couldn’t hold on to the momentum and it was a hard loss.”
With the loss Monticello dropped into the fifth-place bracket where they faced #6 Tintic on Saturday, October 25. Coach Sandefur gives a description of the match:
“We started slow on day two again, allowing Tintic to jump out to a 7-1 lead. I called a timeout and the girls rallied.
“Tintic was not the offensive monster Rich was and we were able to take set one. We lost set two unfortunately, but the girls were not letting this game go.
“We turned on our offense with Marlee Mack and Jane Burton both getting eight kills and Makenna Peterson and Maron Freestone adding five kills each.
“Shelby Rogers had four kills and Josie Mack added another two. Defensively, Marlee Mack had 20 digs. Madie Adair added 16 more, and Jane Burton contributed 11. The girls refused to let the ball hit the floor.”
With the bounce-back win the Lady Buckaroos advanced to the fifth-place game for the second straight season.
In their final game of the year they came up against eighth-seeded Valley in a best-of-three sets matchup. Coach Sandefur gives the description:
“Valley found a way to shut down our middle hitters and put a damper on our offense. Marlee Mack with eight kills and Jane Burton and Shelby Rogers both with four kills tried to get something started.
“[They won the first set 25-18]. We were able to take the second set [25-21], but just couldn’t get things to click in set three [25-15].”
Monticello finished their season in seventh place with a 16-11 overall record. They were the Region 19 Champions with a 7-1 record this season. It’s a solid start for first-year Head Coach Janna Sandefur.
She looked back on the season in a recent email to the San Juan Record. “As a team we improved every day and really began to mesh well with each other,” she stated.
“It wasn’t until a week before State that I even realized I only had a couple of players with varsity state court experience. A lack of experience and nerves were our biggest challenges at the tournament.
“The excitement and fear of playing in the UVU Center was hard to combat. Our warmups before every game did not go as well as we would have liked them to, which then led into a slow start.
“But we have a great team and have worked hard this season to fight for every ball. I believe these girls can be winners. Sometimes we were able to pull it out and other times we weren’t so lucky.
“The season went so quickly! My staff and I truly loved working with these girls and their parents. I have enjoyed watching all of them grow in skill and strength and look forward to moving into our next season where they will already know us as coaches and what our expectations are.
“I am so proud of the strength the girls have added. Their hard work has made it possible for all the players to move faster and hit harder. I believe in these girls and the future of the Monticello Volleyball program.”