Tom Zulewski •
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• Published: October 30. 2010 4:55AM
OREM - The Hurricane Tigers had every right, every rhyme and every reason to fold its collective net at the 3A state volleyball playoffs Friday. Only two points away from a disheartening loss, Hurricane found a way to keep its championship hopes alive.
Pulling off an improbable rally from a Game 5 deficit, Hurricane defeated North Sanpete 25-22, 13-25, 23-25, 25-21, 16-14 to advance to today's championship semifinals at the UVU Events Center.
"It was fun. It was exciting," McKeehan said of the Tigers' unlikely win. "We should have lost that game, but Angela Shields did an outstanding job."
Shields was on the service line when the Tigers began their final-game comeback from a 13-5 hole. Hurricane reeled off the next nine points and nearly finished the run in regulation, but Shields' 10th serve sailed inches beyond the end line.
It didn't faze the Tigers in the least as they captured the final two points to seal the win and advance to a matchup with tournament favorite Morgan, who defeated Delta in four games, in a 10:30 a.m. start today.
"There was some fear, but we gave it all on every game," Shields said. "We played until the last point."
Region 9 runner-up Desert Hills was equally impressive in advancing to the semifinals. The Thunder used several younger players, but still rolled to a 3-1 win over Wasatch, taking Game 4 by a 25-20 count.
"I'm happy because I screwed up," Thunder coach Jill Swaney admitted. "We had different players in the match (against Wasatch), and they all did an outstanding job."
Sophomore Alexx Thornton came through with several kills at key times, and senior Brooke Bliss was praised by Swaney as well.
"She took care of business," Swaney said of the senior.
The Thunder will take on Juan Diego in the other semifinal, starting at 12:30 p.m.
Hurricane had an additional struggle in their opening match, but was able to finish off Bear River in a 3-1 win. The Thunder, meanwhile, used its timeouts smartly to rebuild momentum and defeat Judge Memorial by the same margin in its opening match, taking Game 4, 25-20.
The Thunder had fallen behind 16-15, but closed the game and the match with a 10-4 tear.
On the 2A side of the ledger, Enterprise shook off its second-round hex and advanced to the semifinals with a four-game win over Grand, rallying from deficits in each.
"We knew there were at least eight extremely good 2A teams this season," said Enterprise coach Brian Phelps. "We had to battle one point at a time.
"And getting past this round helped us a lot."
Senior Tressa Lyman was a catalyst for the Wolves, coming up with 30 kills and 22 digs against the Red Devils.
"The whole team was thinking about how we wanted to get past this second game," Lyman said. "We knew we couldn't let down and had to leave it all on the floor."
The Wolves had trailed 10-5 in the early stages of Game 4, but came all the way back to earn a matchup with South Sevier in a 12:30 p.m. semifinal today. Enterprise rallied from a two-game deficit to beat South Sevier in a match played on Sept. 21.
In the 2A opening matches, both Beaver and Enterprise had little trouble advancing. The Beavers handled Rowland Hall, 25-16, 25-23, 25-20, and the Wolves rolled over Maeser Prep, also in a three-game sweep.
In their second match of the day, Beaver was knocked to the consolation bracket by South Summit in four games.
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