High school boys volleyball: Bountiful defeats Viewmont in 5-set thriller

In a battle of two of the top teams in Region 5, Bountiful got the best of Viewmont in a 5-set thriller Thursday, walking away victorious 25-17, 21-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-8.

“It really was a great match,” said Bountiful head coach Sarah Chism. “It is the type of game that I really like to see at a Region 5 match.

“I know everybody kind of overlooks Region 5, but we’re tough and both teams were super scrappy. We knew this was going to be a fight at the end and we came ready for it. I really liked how our guys stepped up, played together, stuck it out and stuck to the game plan.”

1 of 21

2 of 21

3 of 21

4 of 21

5 of 21

6 of 21

7 of 21

8 of 21

9 of 21

10 of 21

11 of 21

12 of 21

13 of 21

14 of 21

15 of 21

16 of 21

17 of 21

18 of 21

19 of 21

20 of 21

21 of 21

Bountiful got off to a fast start in the opening set, scoring five of the first six points, and never looked back in taking the opening frame with relative ease.

For Bountiful, it was imperative to get off to a fast start, knowing the sort of challenges that Viewmont would present.

Viewmont proceeded to win the next two sets though, giving the Vikings plenty of momentum and confidence as the match wore on.

Instead of players getting down on themselves and succumbing to whatever pressure they may have been feeling, Chism saw it more as a growing and learning opportunity for her side.

“I think we looked at it instead of getting down on ourselves because we were losing, we were learning and kind of figured them out and just trying to figure out where we could be most successful,” Chism said.

“Once we found those opportunities, we really took advantage of those.”

With the victory, Bountiful sits atop Region 5 with an 11-0 record and a 15-4 mark overall.

As the regular season winds down, Chism knows that being a part of tight matches — and winning them — will only benefit her team as it gets ready to hopefully have a deep postseason run.

“The whole time during the game I was thinking how these are the kind of matches that you want to have at this point in the season,” she said.

“Region 5 wants to go and show out. For both teams to be able to fight and battle like that at this point in the season is big. Everybody is starting to flow and it’s really a confidence builder moving into the last week of the regular season and heading into the postseason.”