San Juan volleyball team goes on deepest run in state tournament in eight seasons, finishes as state runners-up

The San Juan Lady Broncos entered the 2026 2A Utah State Volleyball Tournament October 23 as the #2 seed and had high hopes of winning their first state championship since 2010 and 12th in school history. The team was steadily second to North Summit in the 2A standings throughout the season.

They opened with back-to-back sweeps of American Prep West Valley in the second round and South Summit in the quarterfinals at Utah Valley University in Orem.

San Juan dominated APA West Valley 25-11, 25-4, and 25-7. They had a little bit more of a fight against South Summit, but still downed the Lady Wildcats 25-18, 25-17, and 25-22.

The wins propelled the Lady Broncos to the state semifinals on Saturday, October 24 where they faced the #3 seed in the tournament, Millard. It very quickly turned into the most exciting game of the tournament for San Juan.

They suffered a hard-fought 30-28 loss that needed extra points in the first set, but rallied to smash the Lady Eagles 25-17 in the second set to even the score at one set apiece.

Millard regained a lead with a 25-19 win in the third set that put San Juan on the brink of defeat. But the Lady Broncos were equal to the task again, rallying to win the fourth set by 12 points at 25-13.

The fifth and final set was, as expected, hard fought and tight with San Juan coming out on top 15-12. With the exciting win the Lady Broncos stayed alive in the hunt for the state championship and were set for a much-anticipated battle between the top 2A teams in the state.

San Juan’s trip to the state championship game marked their deepest run in the playoffs since they finished as runners-up to Morgan in the 2018 3A tournament. They knew they were up against a team in North Summit that had dominated Utah 2A volleyball, having lost just two games all season.

The Lady Broncos battled hard, but the Lady Braves were simply able to gain an advantage in each set and keep San Juan at arm’s length, beating the girls from Blanding with identical 25-21 scores in all three sets.

Despite the heartbreaking loss the Lady Broncos have every reason to hold their heads high after an outstanding 2A Utah State runner-up season.

They were 26-6 overall this year, were the 12-0 Region 18 Champions, and at the state tournament they proved that they belonged in the conversation among the top two 2A teams in Utah.

After returning home to Blanding and after a couple days to decompress and recover, San Juan Head Coach Skyann Palmer, who just completed her second season at the helm, answered several questions regarding the team, the season, and the state tournament.

Rhett Sifford: Tell me about your team and players this season.

Skyann Palmer: First of all we can’t talk about this varsity team without talking about our junior varsity and C-team. We had a very competitive gym this year, Every kid added to all the wins we had this year.

These girls pushed each other every day at practice and we owe so much of our success to our second and third teams. We had a fantastic varsity team, but we also had so many good kids who never got into a varsity game. Our bench is deep, which is mentally hard for a team when I had fantastic kids sitting the bench all season.

We had so many important roles to fill after taking third at state last year and losing five seniors from our 2025 team. To say these girls stepped up is an understatement.

The first month of our season was a little chaotic trying to put together a line up that fit all of these girls best. They all bring something different to the table, so that was a fun puzzle to put together for each rotation.

I could have set the lineup ten different ways and we probably would have been just fine. The whole team from freshmen to seniors are actually very well rounded volleyball players.

Thanks to parents who have stepped up for these kids while they were younger. That made my job easier, as far as basic skills go.

We hit the ground running this season, without having to start the spring working on the basics like other years that I have coached. It took a bit, but the girls really personalized their role on the team, and honestly it turned out better than I Imagined.

I know taking first is always the goal, but these kids improved so much physically and mentally. I'm really just so proud considering where we started the season, and ending up in that championship game was so awesome.

Adi Ivins is a kid I could put anywhere on the court and she wins. She’s a gamer in practice and showed up every day with a smile on her face. She played right side for our varsity team last year and set for the JV, so that experience set her up for where she ended up her senior season as our Libero.

She stepped into that role with lots of setting experience which was crucial to our offense this year. If our setter had to take the first contact it rarely felt like we were out of system because Adi could still get us a good, accurate set to our hitters.

Adi shines in serve receiving and defense. She had our top serve receive rating all season long, and a lot of people don’t understand how important that is. Serve receive is where the offense starts. We wouldn’t have had the offense we did or have been able to run the tempo we did without Adi. She finished the season with 58 aces and 334 digs.

Havoc Laws, our senior middle blocker, ended the season with 58 blocks and 113 kills. Her block was an intricate piece of our defense. She reads other teams setters extremely well, so there wasn’t a lot that got past her without some kind of touch. Havoc always brought a lot of energy to the game, and was just such a joy to have in practice!

Taya Chamberlain moved to Blanding from Manti last winter and was a great addition to the team. She was a huge part of our defense as our other Middle/RS. We actually ran her opposite our setter but she played two rotations in the middle and one rotation on the right side.

Her job 100 percent was to put up a good block and she filled that role really well. Taya ended the season with 37 blocks. She was so fun to have in practice, and I’m so glad she got to be part of our team this year.

Olivia Nielson was our setter and we finished the last two months of the season in a 5/1 rotation with her. She did so extremely well for this being her first varsity season. She really surprised me with how much work she was willing to put in by herself.

Setting takes so much extra time on top of team practice. Over the summer she very quickly showed how coachable she could be. Liv has made so many improvements over the last year. It helps that she’s 5’8. It’s fun to have a taller setter who can run six rotations and put up a block on the right side. She concluded her season with 29 aces and 824 assists.

Aspyn Ivins is another kid I could have put anywhere on the court and she just excels. Her hustle is always on another level, and she brought that to practice every single day. She’s so fun to watch. We had her in a Defensive Specialist position, so her job was defense and serve receive. She did phenomenally.

Aspyn is also a very good hitter. She was probably my most consistent server, and added 50 aces to our team. I could call a spot for her to serve to and she would hit that without question. She put in a lot of time outside of practice and it showed. Aspyn finished the season with 278 digs.

We ran Sloane Middleton as a defensive specialist for our L1. By the end of the season, if the opposing team would serve it to Sloane, we didn’t even have to question if it would be a good pass or not. She passed dimes.

Sloane is such a coachable kid and extremely positive to have in practice and games. She excelled in defense and covering hitters and ended the season with 182 digs.

Faith Flannery is a unicorn kind of player who is willing to outwork anyone in the world. We were able to run her as a six-rotation outside hitter this year, so it was fun to be able to have her offensively in the front row and back row.

She really has such a career ahead of her as she’s only a sophomore. There is no end in sight as far as potential goes. If she could, I think she would be in the gym every day of the year. If you told me she was in the gym hitting the Sunday after the state tournament. I would believe it.

Faith ended the season with 523 kills, a .266 hitting percentage, 49 aces, 12 blocks, and 229 digs. Expect great things from this kid.

Kyliea Taylor was our four-rotation sophomore outside hitter who came in clutch when we needed her all season long. There were so many games where we could have said she was the X-factor of that game. Kyliea is another kid who lives in the gym and will just outwork anyone and it showed! She ended the season with 278 kills, a .207 hitting percentage, 56 aces, and 118 digs.

Emri Black finished her freshman year with 188 kills and 34 blocks. We ran her in a middle rotation for serve receive reasons, but she played two rotations on the right side and one in the middle while she was front row.

We loved being able to have a hitting threat on the right pin, and putting up a mean block there which not a lot of high school teams have. She came in clutch serving in our last two season games and at  state with 26 aces in only about six games.

Emri’s hitting consistency skyrocketed this season. She has improved so much in the last five months it’s just scary. She is one to watch for sure. This kid is crazy athletic and coachable. Expect big things from her in all sports.

I wanted to also mention Sadie Palmer and Bryir Palmer who held an important role in serving for our team at various times in the season. Sadie got our team 13 aces and Bryir put up eight aces.

Both added to the team by keeping the other team out of system with their serves. They stepped up where we needed them to.

RS: What were some of the most memorable moments this season?

SP: I asked the girls this question, and not surprisingly most of the things they said had nothing to do with actually playing volleyball. Just being together so much over the past six months created situations that they will always remember.

The most memorable moment might have been beating Snow Canyon. Getting noise complaints at the hotel in Richfield when Shaddlee was piercing 15 of the girls’ ears. Having our own homecoming dance at the Valor Hotel in Parowan.

All the time spent with our bus driver, Alfred. Singing songs (take down) together in the bus. Sky throwing her clipboard. Praying for the wifi to work so we could door dash. Getting a tour of Valley’s high school from Miss Franklin.

Scaling cliffs in Kanab. Team dinners. Racing the lights on the stairs at our house at state. When Hadley rolled her ankle and crawled off the court, Sky said, “Is it your butt or your pride?” Singing to all the Moab tourists. Playing in the state championship game.

RS: Tell me about your experience at the state tournament.

SP: Our state tournament was one for the books. I wish every kid could get to experience something similar in their lifetime. There’s nothing quite like being involved and invested in a team competing at that level. Even the kids on the bench are better competitors from being there.

We always stay in a house rather than a hotel so we can spend as much time together as possible. We did most of our meals together there at the house, and we were able to have some amazing speakers come talk to us on Friday night.

Shane from WaspFit who has been a very important part of our mentality training the last two seasons, and Les Calles who always comes to Blanding to do a team camp for us and has been such an important mentor for me as a coach both came.

Without knowing it they both showed up very aligned and talked to the girls about having gratitude for each other – how to play with love and gratitude and taking responsibility.

I think it showed in how our girls played on Saturday. The vibe and energy our bench brought to all the state games, but especially our Saturday games.

The way our girls had to lean on each other and support each other is peak girlhood. I think these kids will remember this year for the rest of their lives. That’s because we either win or we learn, and these girls coming back next year are hungry for a state title.

RS: What were you most proud of this season?

SP: I think what I’m most proud of this year is how far mentally these girls have come. We aren’t perfect, and volleyball is an extremely mental game. You have five to ten seconds to move on from the last play.

At state, not one kid fell apart. If you watch teams closely, there’s usually an attitude problem when your team is down or at least one or two kids are falling apart. These kids kept it together even in the state championship game right up until the last point. That to me is huge.