High school boys volleyball: Maple Mountain defeats Orem in 5-set thriller to remain undefeated

After dropping the opening set to the visiting Orem Tigers Tuesday night, the Maple Mountain Eagles bounced back nicely and defeated the Tigers in a match that went the distance to five sets — 20-25, 25-19, 25-16, 21-25 and 15-6.

It wasn’t the start that they had been hoping for, but the Eagles stuck to their principles and game plan, knowing things would eventually click for them as the match went on.

“We knew that Orem was a good team and so we spent the week prepping really hard for them,” said Maple Mountain head coach Napoleon Galang.

“We worked hard during practice, and we knew that they were going to fight for every point and we just tried to stay calm on our side and play our game and it worked.”

Maple Mountain made some slight adjustments after dropping the first set, tightening things up defensively and making smarter serves.

“The adjustments that we made was that we just stuck to our defensive game plans and got our blocking and defense a little more disciplined,” Galang said.

“We served a little bit tougher to the right person, so we just made those tiny adjustments and it worked out for the second, third and fifth set.”

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Maple Mountain got two quick points to start the second set and never looked back as it continued to ease into the match.

“No matter who the opponent is on the other side, we have our principles: Let’s serve well, let’s talk, let’s pass a good ball and we can run our offense the way we want to,” Galang said.

“If that doesn’t happen to go our way, we can defend and block or (dig) in. Going into this game we worked hard on that, our defense and our first touch. They put us in trouble but ultimately I think our service pressure was kind of our key.”

After falling behind 2 sets to 1, the Tigers came out in the fourth set determined to send a message that they weren’t going down without a fight.

They sent the message loud and clear, storming out and scoring the first six points of the set and ultimately pushed the match to the fifth and deciding set.

Maple Mountain, which is the 5A defending champ, is no stranger to playing in the 5-set white knuckle matches. The final set was never in doubt for the Eagles, as they outscored Orem 9-1 to start the set on their way to another victory.

With the win Maple Mountain remains undefeated, pushing its record to 9-0 as it prepares to begin region play.

“We always talk in the gym during practice about what we are going to do and how we are going to respond when we are down,” Galang said. “We always try to focus our mental game and our energy towards that.

“We always practice as if we’re down in that fifth set because when we’re in those moments, the boys love those moments, and we practice that a lot. It’s not something they’re unfamiliar with. They thrive in those situations and are ready to fight for every point.”