Lady Bronco volleyball winds down regular season, soccer starts 3A state tournament

The San Juan volleyball team waited all season to find out if they would be able to head to Richfield for the Sevier Valley Tournament this past weekend, October 9-10 at the Sevier Valley Center.

They received word early last week that they would indeed be able to participate. So the Lady Broncos boarded a bus for the trip to the center of the state to take on several strong opponents and gain some valuable experience as their season heads into its final weeks.

San Juan battled hard, and though they lost four matches in a row to open the tourney, all but one were decided by one set. On Friday, October 9 the Lady Broncos suffered defeat to Grantsville 3-2 and Panguitch 3-1.

Saturday, October 10 opened with 3-2 losses to Crimson Cliffs, WA and Juab before San Juan closed out the weekend with a nice 3-1 win over North Sevier.

Maycee Conway led the San Juan serving with a 2.15 rating on the weekend. Avina Cordova was right behind with a 2.12, Bailey Brown got a 2.02, and Kinley Noyes and Jerika Torgerson both hit the 2.00 mark.

Conway hit an impressive 95.7 serve percentage on 47 attempts during the tournament. Cordova served 95.4 percent on 65 attempts, Kaeahliyah Howard was 93.9 percent on 99 serves, and Torgerson was 92.4 percent on 66.

Torgerson and Cordova both collected six aces on the weekend, Bailey Brown and Sadie Brown each had five, Howard got four, and Conway hit three.

Torgerson led San Juan with 102 kills in the tournament, Kinley Noyes hit 34, Sadie Brown got 22, Macy Jacobsen 21, and Bailey Brown 21.

Bailey Brown, Cordova, and Halli Palmer led in the assist department with 93, 64, and 17 respectively.

Torgerson was part of 16 blocks for the Lady Broncos, Jacobsen was in on 13, and Bailey Brown registered nine. Bailey Brown was the best San Juan digger with 86. Sadie Brown got 70, Torgerson 64, and Cordova 55.

Head Coach Marci Black was encouraged by the Lady Broncos’ ability to force five sets in most of their matches, but said the girls’ inability to close them out with a win was due in part to inexperience.

“We have to learn to have confidence in those types of situations and figure out how to finish games,” she explained.

She added that the girls have been working hard all season and she has seen improvement in many areas of their game.

Following the tournament the Lady Broncos are 5-13 on the year, ranked #17 in the 3A volleyball RPI. They’re down to just two matches to close out the 2020 regular season, at home against Emery this Wednesday, October 14 and at Grand next Tuesday, October 20.

Black said the girls have played great volleyball so far this year, but she would like to see them play more evenly with less momentum shifts.

To close out the regular season she wants to see the Lady Broncos be mentally prepared and “play our game. Primarily, we need to serve and pass well so we can run our offense like we want to.”

San Juan lost at Emery 3-2 on September 17, but Black said when the Lady Broncos were able to set their hitters the Lady Spartans had no answer.

Girls soccer
The San Juan girls soccer team is ready to make some waves in the Utah 3A girls soccer world this week when they open the 2020 state tournament.

It’s a tough draw for the Lady Broncos, who finished 13th in the 3A ranks with a 3-8-1 overall record. They face the #4 Juab Lady Wasps (12-4) in Juab on Wednesday, October 14.

San Juan knows they’ll have to put together their best game of the season to pull off the upset. Head coach Jay Jones said a couple of the team’s key goals are to tighten up the defense and get on the scoreboard first.

The game begins at 4 p.m. on Wednesday with the winner advancing to take on either #5 Richfield or #12 Maeser Prep in the state quarterfinals Saturday.