Monument Valley volleyball team wins three of five in regular season homestretch, looks for strong start to state tournament at home
The Monument Valley High School volleyball team won three of their final five games of the regular season from October 6-13. The team was ranked seventh in the Utah 1A with a solid 18-8 record before the standings were taken offline.
On Thursday, October 8 the Cougars welcomed longtime Region 19 rival Monticello to town looking for their fifth straight win. The contest did not disappoint; right from the start it was a tightly-fought thriller.
It took extra points in both of the first two sets of the match as Monument Valley took set one 28-26 and Monticello took set two 26-24. The Cougars put the Buckaroos on the brink with a strong 25-20 win in the third frame, but the visitors battled back to win 25-22 in the fourth, setting up an exciting tie-breaker.
Monument Valley kept their rivals at arms length in the final set on the way to an impressive 15-9 victory. Naomi White led the offensive attack for the Cougars with a very impressive 23 kills and four serving aces in the win.
White’s hitting percentage of .643 was well above her season average of .462 on the season. That’s second-best in the state behind only Alisi Tapaatoutai of Woods Cross.
Nesbah Hunt had a solid 16 kills in the game and served up four aces to co-lead the team. Samara Sheppard contributed eight kills to the Cougars’ winning effort.
Peyton Tome assisted on an amazing 31 points and had three serving aces. Meliyah Holiday had a solid 13 assists in the game.
Defensively Naomi White blocked three Monticello hits and also had 14 digs. Natalin Russell led the team with 24 digs.
On Friday and Saturday, October 9-10 Monument Valley headed to Joseph City, AZ where they went 2-1 at the Joseph City Tournament. They opened with a 2-0 win over the host team Friday night, but the Wildcats got some revenge with a straight-sets win in the first game on Saturday.
The Cougars finished strong with a 2-0 win over longtime rival Red Mesa in the afternoon game. In the first game of the tournament against Joseph City Naomi White led the team with 11 kills and a .692 hitting percentage.
Peyton Tome assisted on 11 Monument Valley points in the two sets. Malaya Blackmountain, Meliyah Holiday, and Nesbah Hunt all had one serving ace each. Natalin Russell dug 20 Wildcat hits while Samara Sheppard and Naomi White had two blocks apiece.
The Cougars had a challenging test in the final game of the regular season on Tuesday, October 13 when they hosted Navajo Prep. The Fighting Eagles are a solid 3A team in Farmington, NM who are currently 11-5 and are enjoying a five-game winning streak.
Sadly, that includes Monument Valley. The Cougars battled hard in the match, but fell in straight sets. Despite the result it was good state tournament preparation for Monument Valley against a tough team.
The Utah 1A Girls Volleyball State Tournament begins this Wednesday, October 21. The Utah High School Activities Association will release the official bracket on Monday, October 19.
It’s likely Monument Valley will host a home game in the first round. If they can advance, they’ll head to Utah Valley University in Orem for the remainder of the tournament Friday and Saturday, October 23-24.