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Boys Volleyball State Tournaments: Westlake, Maple Mountain, Orem among favorites | News, Sports, Jobs

1 / 2 Maple Mountain’s Trey Thornton reacts during a Region 7 boys volleyball match against Springville on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. Harold Mitchell, Special to the Daily Herald 2 / 2 Orem’s Ben Hone (25) takes a swing against Payson in a Region 8 boys volleyball match on Thursday, April 17, 2025. Darnell Dickson, […]

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1 / 2

Maple Mountain’s Trey Thornton reacts during a Region 7 boys volleyball match against Springville on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Daily Herald

2 / 2

Orem’s Ben Hone (25) takes a swing against Payson in a Region 8 boys volleyball match on Thursday, April 17, 2025.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald


Year 2 of boys high school volleyball in the state of Utah should be even better than Year 1.

Last season the state crowned its first four state champions in boys volleyball: Pleasant Grove in Class 6A, Maple Mountain in Class 5A, Pine View in Class 4A and Grantsville in Class 3A. Play improved dramatically over the course of the season, producing high-level volleyball in the all of the finals.

This week at Utah Valley’s UCCU Center, four more gold trophies will be awarded.

Here’s a look at the 6A, 5A, 4A and 3A tournaments.

Class 6A

Bingham (21-4) earned the No. 1 seed in 6A after rolling to 14 consecutive victories. Region 3 champion Westlake (22-5) is No. 2, Lehi is No. 4 and Lone Peak No. 7. Last year’s 6A champ, Pleasant Grove, is the No. 13 seed.

Westlake rolled through Region 3 unbeaten (10-0) after taking down Cedar Valley in a sweep on Friday. Junior Kilika Tafa has 286 kills and gets offensive help from junior Kyson Ririe (181 kills), senior Parker Swenson (178 kills) and sophomore Thomas Wood (142) kills, with senior setter Keagan Cundiff (826 assists) directing things.

“It’s been such a blessing to coach this team,” Westlake coach Whitney Randall said. “At the end of the season last year we did not end up how we wanted to. So we spent a lot of time talking about it and training some specific things to kind of bridge some of the gaps we saw last year. Coming in and beating a tough region in No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 from last year is something that we’re really proud of and we’re hoping to take that energy into the state tournament.”

The 6A Tournament has two first round matches on Monday, then runs Friday and Saturday with the championship match at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Class 5A

It would take a tremendous upset to derail No. 1 Maple Mountain (25-1) from winning a second straight 5A title. The Golden Eagles, led by 6-foot-7 BYU signee Trey Thornton and 6-7 setter Taft Hillman, have won 38 straight matches against Utah competition.

Still, there are a couple of dangerous candidates in the tournament field.

No. 2 Bountiful (24-4) has won 12 matches in a row and No. 4 Alta (18-7) is 10-1 in its past 11 matches. The catalyst for the Hawks has been been another BYU signee, Corbin Batista, a 6-foot-6 outside hitter who is the son of former Cougar great Victor Batista. Corbin Batista transferred to Alta from Snow Canyon in St. George and wasn’t eligible to start the season. In 11 matches he is averaging 5.2 kills per set and hitting .399, with 45 kills in his past two matches.

Maple Mountain knows it has a big target on its back and welcomes the challenge.

“From the beginning, the players knew what the goal was, and that is to win state again,” Golden Eagles coach Napoleon Galang said. “Every day in the gym we give the players challenges. We have to keep them challenged in every aspect of the game. They know they have to stay on top of it, because everybody is after us. As long as we play our game, play consistently and clean, and win the serve and pass game, it’s going to be ours to lose.”

The 4A tournament begins with first round matches on Monday, leading to Friday’s second round and finally the championship match on Saturday at 7 p.m.

CLASS 4A

Orem (22-6) is right back where it was to start last year’s tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Tigers lost a heartbreaking five-set match to Pine View in the 4A final, falling in the fifth set 17-15. Orem setter Lucky Jennings has a lot of options to feed, including leading hitter Ben Hone (203 kills) and middles Aaron Nielsen and Luke Wolsey.

Tigers coach Bill Sefita, who has coached the Orem girls team to back-to-back state titles, said the state tournament is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one.

“We’ve been able to meet with one of our psychologists, John Osborne,” Sefita said. “He’s done a good work with us. I think that’s one thing that’s kind of helped us. We had a tough loss against Riverton a few weeks ago, so bouncing back into the next week, we met with sports psychologists and that helped us work on, how to be mentally tough and be more present within the game.”

The other challengers in the tournament are No. 2 Murray (18-7), No. 3 Desert Hills (16-8) and No. 4 Crimson Cliffs (17-8).

Play begins Wednesday and concludes with the championship match on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

CLASS 3A

The 3A tournament runs concurrently with the 4A and is also Wednesday and Thursday. Ogden (20-5) is the No. 1 seed and will open with No. 17 UMA-Camp Williams (4-17). American Heritage (15-11) is the No. 6 seed and Freedom Prep (17-9) is No. 9.

Copyright © 2025 Ogden Newspapers of Utah, LLC | www.heraldextra.com | 1200 Towne Centre Blvd. STE 1058, Provo, UT 84601



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Cronhardt Concludes Outdoor Season – Missouri State

Story Links COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Missouri State track and field’s Ella Cronhardt concluded the outdoor season in the West First Round of the NCAA Track and Field Championship this evening. The distance runner posted a time of 10:57.09 in the 3000-meter steeplechase, finishing 45th overall in the event.   Cronhardt became MoState […]

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Missouri State track and field’s Ella Cronhardt concluded the outdoor season in the West First Round of the NCAA Track and Field Championship this evening. The distance runner posted a time of 10:57.09 in the 3000-meter steeplechase, finishing 45th overall in the event.
 
Cronhardt became MoState track and field’s first NCAA Regional Qualifier since 2022 (Rochelle Etienne and Jamilah James) and the first in the steeplechase event since Grace Breiten in 2019. 
 
The final event of the track and field season also concludes Missouri State’s tenure in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bears will join Conference USA on July 1, 2025. 
 
 

#GoBears



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Gwenno Goode Advances To NCAA Championhips In The 3K Steeplechase

Story Links JACKSONVILLE, Fla.  – La Salle University women’s track and field athlete Gwenno Goode advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Saturday during the final day of the NCAA East Preliminaries at Hodges Stadium. Goode becomes the first La Salle female to make […]

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla.  – La Salle University women’s track and field athlete Gwenno Goode advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Saturday during the final day of the NCAA East Preliminaries at Hodges Stadium.

Goode becomes the first La Salle female to make it to Nationals since 2023 when El Mancini qualified in the 10,000-meter run. She is the second runner in program history to advance in the steeplechase, after Grace Mancini did it in 2021.

The Barry, Wales native placed fourth in her steeplechase heat and was 11th out of 48 overall with a time of 10:01.65, becoming one of the 12 individuals to qualify for Nationals. It was the second time she ran in the event at the NCAA East Preliminaries, finishing 28th last year with a time of 10:32.75.

Goode’s race marks another achievement for her collegiate racing career at La Salle. Last fall, Goode qualified for the NCAA Cross Country National Championships, after earning All-Region honors at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships. She also won the individual title at the Atlantic 10 Cross Championships in the fall of 2024. In the indoor track & field season, she took gold medals at the conference championships in both the 3,000-meter run and the distance medley relay.

Now, the distance runner will turn her attention to the NCAA National Championships, which will be held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. from June 11-14.



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MEN’S C WATER POLO. The leader arrives. The Navy is chasing the feat

Last act of the regular season in the men’s C series for the Marina Militare: coach Carlo Foti’s team will write the last chapter of this intense second round, in which they lost only one match, winning all the others. Today’s opponent will be a battleship: the league leaders Can Milano, who will visit the […]

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Last act of the regular season in the men’s C series for the Marina Militare: coach Carlo Foti’s team will write the last chapter of this intense second round, in which they lost only one match, winning all the others. Today’s opponent will be a battleship: the league leaders Can Milano, who will visit the boys with the stars this afternoon at the ‘Mori’ swimming pool in Spezia at 17 pm. “This will be the last match of the championship and we want to finish well and analyze and evaluate the position” begins the coach in the pre-match, who makes an initial assessment of this season. “We are light, we have had a great championship and we know it, despite a thousand difficulties with the locations and the trips. I can only be happy with what I have seen from my boys, both in the C series and in the youth teams and we are working well”.

In the first leg, the Milanese won with a clear 10-6, but at home the team will also be able to count on the support of their home crowd. The team will take to the field with a full squad. For the other teams in the province, they will be back in the pool next week: in Promozione-serie D, Lerici Sport will face Camogli on Tuesday for the last challenge of the season, while the players of the women’s B team still have two matches to go: the first will be on June 6 away, again against Camogli.

C.T.



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Maywin Wraps Up Women’s Track & Field Season at NCAA West First Round

Story Links BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – Junior Achol Maywin wrapped up The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s (UTRGV) women’s outdoor track & field season Saturday as she competed in the women’s high jump semifinals at the NCAA West First Round hosted by Texas A&M at E.B. Cushing Stadium.    Maywin cleared 1.71 meters on her […]

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BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – Junior Achol Maywin wrapped up The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s (UTRGV) women’s outdoor track & field season Saturday as she competed in the women’s high jump semifinals at the NCAA West First Round hosted by Texas A&M at E.B. Cushing Stadium. 
 
Maywin cleared 1.71 meters on her second attempt, matching the ninth-best high jump in outdoor program history. She was one of nine student-athletes to clear 1.71 meters and tied for 32nd at the regional meet. Nine women recorded no height. 
 
Maywin finishes her debut season at UTRGV with the program record (1.77m) and seven of the top 10 high jumps in the outdoor record books. 
 
UTRGV RESULTS
Saturday, May 31 
Women’s high jump semifinal
32. Achol Maywin, 1.71m
· T-9th in program history 

Support UTRGV Track & Field | Become a Fan on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Follow us on Instagram | Follow us on YouTube

 





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Nordonia boys volleyball stopped by Mount Vernon in OHSAA Division II state semifinal

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Nordonia’s run in the OHSAA Division II boys volleyball state tournament ended Friday night in the state semifinals with a 3-0 loss to Mount Vernon at Wittenberg University. After a strong run through Region 7, where the Knights lost just one set, Nordonia had no answers for the Yellowjackets in three sets. […]

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Nordonia’s run in the OHSAA Division II boys volleyball state tournament ended Friday night in the state semifinals with a 3-0 loss to Mount Vernon at Wittenberg University.

After a strong run through Region 7, where the Knights lost just one set, Nordonia had no answers for the Yellowjackets in three sets.

Falling 25-17, 25-14, and 25-6, the Knights’ offense struggled to create opportunities. Senior EJ Sopata, who led the state in kills, finished with 11 kills, tied for game-high.

The rest of the Knights combined for just eight more kills. The Yellowjackets outplayed the Knights at the net with 33 kills to 19.

The 2025 season will stand out as a high-water mark for the Knights’ program as it continues to grow. The season included a 20-7 final record with a trip to state, and hosting Division I and II tournament play under head coach Rob Fernandez.



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Texas tops champion Oklahoma at Women's College World Series

Associated Press May 31, 2025, 06:43 PM ET Open Extended Reactions OKLAHOMA CITY — Kayden Henry and Joley Mitchell hit solo home runs to help Texas defeat four-time defending national champion Oklahoma 4-2 in the Women’s College World Series on Saturday. Texas (53-11) advanced to the semifinals on Monday and needs just one win to […]

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Texas tops champion Oklahoma at Women's College World Series

OKLAHOMA CITY — Kayden Henry and Joley Mitchell hit solo home runs to help Texas defeat four-time defending national champion Oklahoma 4-2 in the Women’s College World Series on Saturday.

Texas (53-11) advanced to the semifinals on Monday and needs just one win to reach the championship series for the third time in four years.

Oklahoma (51-8) remains alive in the double-elimination format. The Sooners will play Oregon in an elimination game on Sunday.

Oklahoma had defeated Texas in the championship series two of the past three years and had won six straight games against the Longhorns overall.

Two of Texas pitcher Teagan Kavan’s five losses this season were against the Sooners. On Saturday, she allowed just one earned run, scattered seven hits and struck out eight in seven innings to earn the win.

Oklahoma pitcher Sam Landry took the loss. She gave up three earned runs and eight hits in six innings. Ella Parker and Gabby Garcia each had two hits for the Sooners.

Henry’s solo shot down the right-field line gave Texas a 3-2 lead in the fifth.

Oklahoma got a runner to third with two outs in the sixth but did not score. Mitchell’s solo blast to left center put the Longhorns up 4-2 in the bottom of the inning.

Oklahoma tried to extend the game and had runners on first and second with one out, but Kavan struck out Garcia and Hannah Coor swinging to end the game.

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