High school girls volleyball: Panguitch repeats as 1A state champion

It took a lot of depth and a core group of nine seniors to pull off Panguitch’s second consecutive state volleyball title win Saturday night.
The Bobcats faced off with Manila during the final match of the year, hosted at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield. The Mustangs made a few runs at Panguitch, but in the end were unable to stop the Bobcats from capturing the 3-0 win.
“They’ve played us tougher than anyone in 1A has by far,” said Panguitch coach Troy Norris, who added his ninth state championship to Panguitch’s trophy case with Saturday’s win. “They did a good job.”
Panguitch owes a lot of its success this year to an unusual amount of depth, Norris said.
“We have nine special seniors,” said Norris. “You just don’t have that very often. We have 11 girls who play all the time. That’s a little unheard of.”
Norris said all the girls on his team are capable of playing all the way around the court, so there is never a fear of running out of subs.
Panguitch came into the tournament with the second seed, while Manila entered it in fourth.
“It was definitely a team effort,” said middle blocker Bently Owens. “We’ve been through everything together since about third grade. This has been a dream of ours and we’re glad we finally made it.”
“My job was just to help everyone out and give equal chances to hit the ball,” said setter Kieran Mooney. “I feel like I did a pretty good job with that tonight. Winning this means a lot to me. This season we’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but we ended up pulling it together at the end.”
Panguitch’s other setter, Josslyn Griffin, said she is proud of every member of the team.
“It was a really great night,” Griffin said. “I’m just thankful for my coaches and all they’ve done for me.”
Through the three sets, outside hitter Brayli Frandsen had stints wherein she was at the service line through five- and six-point rallies.
“This took a lot of hard work and dedication,” Frandsen said. “Our coach started making us serve like 10 in a row every day. It really helped us be consistent. It feels good to come out on top.”
“I just had to keep my confidence going and stay in the right mindset,” said Addison Bailey, who played middle block throughout the final match.
The game was one last time for this group of friends to play together, said middle blocker Mallory Henrie.
“We’ve stuck together through thick and thin,” Henrie said. “I just had to get up a good block and not let them hit the line on us.”
There was more than just technique and drills when it came to putting together a state championship run, according to Kadee Harland, the team’s libero.
“My real job tonight was being the hype man and getting the team going,” Harland said. “That’s what volleyball is about to me. I came into this separating my self worth from winning. I was going to be happy just to play with my girls. Winning with them just made it that much more special.”