Faced with a big 14-6 deficit, which left no room for error in the 5th set, the Cougars dug deep and scored 10 straight to advance in the quarterfinal round of the 3A state playoffs
OREM — Tears don’t often accompany the result of a quarterfinal win in a double-elimination tournament, or loss for that matter. But considering what No. 4 seed Union pulled off in its thrilling comeback 5-set win (21-25, 25-8, 11-25, 25-18, 16-14) over No. 5 Grand County on Tuesday, it’s easy to forgive the overflow of emotion by Cougar players after.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever cried tears of joy in my life!” explained one Union player as the team huddled in the UCCU Center hallway following the win, which leaves the Cougars as one of the four remaining unbeaten teams in the 3A state tournament.
The tears came as a result of a remarkable comeback staged in a fifth set. Union overcome a 14-6 hole dug in the fifth set, scoring 10 straight to take an improbable 16-14 set win as players reacted as if they’d just won the championship.
And who could blame them, considering?
In a sport which involves a lot of back-and-forth play, Union was faced with the prospect of not giving a single aspect back in hopes of moving forward for 10 improbable straight points.
“Our girls are just so mentally tough, and you just saw how tough they are,” said Union coach Analaine Mailoto. “We’ve been mentally tough all year, and I just encouraged them to stay positive and we got there. I couldn’t be prouder of how the girls responded.”
Nine of the 10 points came with Macee Adamson serving, showing a calm and determined demeanor in placing the ball effectively to generate good scoring opportunities.
“All of my servers I have confidence in. Our serving is our strength,” Mailoto said. “Serving can be stressful, but we showed we can be mentally tough.”
Finishing things off was outside hitter Ellison Weaver, who spiked a ball off a Grand defender for match point, which ushered in the aforementioned frenzy.
“We’ve never had to overcome something like that, and we’re just happy to have a day off now to come down from all this emotion,” Mailoto said. “We have to take on a really tough San Juan team now and we’ll need to be at least as mentally tough to get past that team.”
San Juan challenged and other action
No. 1 seed San Juan got past No. 9 North Sanpete on Tuesday, but the team needs four sets to take the win and advance (25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 25-18). Each set was tight, although the Wasps were able to show their best play late in separating themselves in the three sets won.
Defending 3A champion and No. 2 seed Morgan got past No. 7 Carbon (25-13, 25-19, 25-21) to advance to the semifinal round of the no loss bracket. The Trojans will next take on No. 3 Richfield, which defeated No. 6 South Summit (25-15, 25-16, 25-20) on other quarterfinal action.
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2oxFiOo
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario