TAYLORSVILLE — When senior setter Ashley Aloi went down in the Warriors' critical fourth set, her teammates were concerned about her health but not about whether they could fill the void left by her absence.
"At first I thought she was hurt," said senior middle blocker Micaela Seaman after Taylorsville defeated Dixie 25-20, 15-25, 27-25, 21-25, 15-8 Thursday night. "But after we learned it was just (leg) cramps, I knew we'd be okay. We've all set with each other; we've all played with each other. Everyone has confidence in each other. We're all on the same level."
Sophomore setter Triniti Taylor took over setting duties, while senior Kesaia Taufa came in and helped out at the net. The result was an 8-0 Warrior run.
"I was impressed with them," said Taylorsville head coach Rich Kaelin. "To have your senior setter out because of cramps and build up an eight-point lead is pretty good. Of course, then we gave it all up."
The Flyers rallied to win that fourth set but the Warriors battled back to win the non-region match. The fact that Taylorsville has a mixture of experienced seniors and talented youngsters helped them defeat a tough Dixie squad.
"We've still got a lot of work to do," said Kaelin. "But to see we could battle, to see we could get some easy points off serves, was really nice. We do have to get better at passing."
Aloi re-entered the game, although she remained in pain the rest of the match. She and Taylor ran a very effective offense against a very defensive-minded Dixie team.
"You can't say enough about their team," said Kaelin referring to Dixie's squad. "They wouldn't let us put anything down."
Dixie head coach Stacy Leavitt said the Flyers are still learning new positions and filling holes left by last year's seniors.
"We have to learn to convert and create offense," said Leavitt. "We don't have a lot of height. But they have no fear. We're very good at defense...Digging Dixie, someone said."
Outside hitter Jennika Wright, libero BreeAnna Tibbs, and setter Jaimee Clark led the Flyers, while the Warriors had big plays from Seaman, Aloi, middle hitter Katie Greenberg, outside hitter Maia Sears and outside hitter Samantha Staker.
e-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com