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Orem’s Kambi Kuhni (17) takes a swing against Ridgeline in the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Orem’s Reyn Fuller (12) takes a swing against Ridgeline in the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1`, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Orem coach Bill Fifita instructs his team during a time out at the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Orem’s Sarah Page (5) sets the ball during the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Payson’s Taryn Wimmer (in green) takes a swing against Hillcrest in the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Payson’s Taryn Wimmer (in green) takes a swing against Hillcrest in the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Payson’s Sadie DeGraffenried (23) sets up a block against Hillcrest in the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Payson’s Quincey Matthews serves the ball against Hillcrest in the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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The Mountain View girls volleyball team celebrates an ace serve during the 4A state tournament at UVU’s UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Mountain View’s Elle Richardson (11) and her teammates celebrate a point during the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at UVU’s UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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The Mountain View girls volleyball team celebrates a point during the 4A state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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The Mountain View crowd reacts as Talia Quinn prepares to serve during the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Mountain View coach Dave Neeley talks to Adalyn Vance during a time out at the 4A girls volleyball state tournament in the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Mountain View’s Elle Richardson sets the ball during the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Provo’s Meliana Chrisman (8) takes a swing against Uintah in the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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The Orem girls volleyball team celebrates a point during the 4A state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Players on the Orem girls volleyball team bench react during the 4A state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Orem cheerleaders react during the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Orem’s Sarah Page (5) and Sophie Campbell set up a block against Ridgeline in the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
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Orem’s Sarah Page (5) serves the ball during the 4A girls volleyball state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald
Orem girls volleyball coach Bill Sefita got to see it all from his team in the 4A state tournament on Friday.
The No. 1-seeded Tigers — the defending state champions — were dominant at times but also struggled and had to overcome adversity.
That’s just what Sefita needed to see.
“I think it’s always good, the pressure at state,” Sefita said. “One of the things we worked on with our sports psychologist was figuring out how to not let the pressure be too much of a distraction and letting the pressure be something that we fall in love with, and just go out there and be excited for pressure and be excited for the game.”
Orem (26-4) rolled past No. 17 Dixie 3-0 (25-8, 25-8, 25-17) in a second-round match and then powered past No. 9 Ridgeline 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 25-15) in the quarterfinals to advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
“Winning last year, our experience, it helps a lot,” senior middle hitter Kambri Kuhni said. “It’s like we’re not going in blind. We know tomorrow is gonna be a battle. The game just gets harder and harder. We talk about energy a lot and I think that’s one of the things with us as a team, if we have good energy, then we play really great.”
A Reyn Fuller kill got Orem to 23-16 in the first set and a couple of Ridgeline errors settled things at 25-19. The Tigers got out to a 13-7 lead in the second set and Kuhni helped them finish strong, her slide attack the winner at 25-21.
Ridgeline, behind the offense of junior outside hitter Brynlie Cornia, shot out to a 12-7 advantage in the third set. Orem managed to tie the set at 16-all but the RiverHawks took control down the stretch with three kills from Cornia including the set-winner at 25-23.
Things didn’t start so great for the Tigers in the fourth set as Ridgeline again gained the upper hand early and led 4-0. Sefita had confidence his players would settle down.
“I don’t want to overwhelm the girls, so when we’re on the court, it’s kind of like I put it back in a classroom setting,” Sefita said. “Teachers don’t lecture during test days, and that’s the same thing with us. We just let them be girls, and just let them say, ‘Hey, let’s just trust our training has been enough.’”
From a 6-6 tie, Orem went on a 13-2 run with timely kills from freshman Madi Scott and Sophie Campbell. Setter Sarah Page’s dump attack caught Ridgeline unaware and the Tigers surged to a 19-8 lead they would never relinquish on their way to a 25-15 victory and the match win.
“I’m proud of the way we played,” Kuhni said. “It was definitely a challenge, especially the third set. They pushed us a lot. So I’m really proud of the way that we came back and fought really hard. The past the week we haven’t had any games, so we’ve been working really hard on making this stuff muscle memory. I think it was a good week of practice and it’s showing.”
Page spread the ball around offensively, with eight kills from Kuhni, seven from Campbell, six from Scott and five from freshman Callie Eudis.
Orem will face No. 5 Desert Hills in one semifinal on Saturday after the Thunder topped No. 12 Uintah 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-22) and No. 4 Crimson Cliffs 3-1 (25-21, 26-24, 18-25, 25-20).
The other semifinal will feature No. 2 seed Green Canyon (28-2), which swept No. 18 Sky View (25-18, 26-24, 25-16) and No. 7 Payson (25-21, 25-18, 25-16).
Orem and Green Canyon met in last year’s final (won by the Tigers 3-0) and could be headed for another showdown. The two teams battled in Utah County on August 27, with the Wolves coming out with a 3-1 victory.
Two other Region 8 teams — No. 6 Mountain View and No. 7 Payson — won second-round matches on Friday. The Bruins swept No. 11 Cedar City (25-22, 25-20, 25-21) but dropped a 3-0 decision (25-18, 25-18, 25-18) to No. 3 Park City in the quarterfinals. Payson beat up on No. 10 Hillcrest in three (25-22, 25-15, 25-11) before falling to Green Canyon in the quarterfinals.
Payson and Mountain View will meet in a consolation semifinal on Saturday morning with the winner moving on to the 5th-7th place match.
No. 13 Provo lost to No. 4 Crimson Cliffs 3-2 (25-14, 20-25, 25-22, 23-25, 15-9) in the second round and rebounded to eliminate No. 12 Uintah (25-18, 25-15). The Bulldogs face No. 8 Hurricane in a consolation match on Saturday with the moving advancing to the 6th-8th place match.
