High school girls volleyball: Woods Cross overcomes charging Skyline, wins first state title since 1979

It was a hectic fourth set in the 5A championship match between Region 6 foes Woods Cross and Skyline on Thursday.

The Wildcats had won the first two sets in dominant fashion and it looked like it was going to be a quick 3-0 sweep. Skyline had other plans and fought back, and was on the verge of forcing a fifth set after it went up 29-28.

Skyline earned that fifth set after Wildcats junior outside hitter Sitoafa Tausinga soared a ball out of bounds. She was playing through a bruised heel she sustained in Wednesday’s quarterfinal, which she tweaked again in the third set of the championship.

That’s why her championship winning kill in the final set was all the more sweet. Tausinga’s kill gave Woods Cross its first state championship since 1979 with a 3-2 win over the Eagles.

The final score was 25-17, 25-18, 22-25, 28-30 and 15-7.

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“She was screaming at (Zamari Christensen), my setter, to set her the ball,” said Woods Cross head coach Nicole Hogan. “There was no one else on this court it was going to go to in those moments. She wanted that ball. She did not care about her pain.”

Before any of Tausinga’s heroics, Woods Cross dominated the beginning of the title match. The combination of Tausinga, middle blocker Alisi Tapaatoutai and star outside hitter Avery Poulton was too much for Skyline to handle.

The Wildcats didn’t give up much ground defensively, and their offense was overwhelming. Poulton especially was dominant with five kills in both the first and second set.

But things started to turn sour in the third set.

Skyline’s Isa Taylor and Bailey Bennett mounted an attack that caused Woods Cross to play on its back foot for the first time. The pressure caused the Wildcats to make mistakes they weren’t previously making. They weren’t efficiently handling passes or the Eagles’ block.

In all, Woods Cross gave up four aces in the set and lost 25-22.

The fourth set actually started heavily in Woods Cross’ favor, as a sequence of kills and strong serves got the Wildcats a 12-7 lead.

But once again, Skyline’s attack got creative. The Eagles started opening things up with well-placed tips, which in turn opened things up for the kill.

The Eagles rallied themselves back to a 16-16 tie and eventually took the set 30-28 after Tausinga’s error.

But the theme of the night for Woods Cross was forgetting mistakes and moving on.

“I feel like focusing on those moments doesn’t help you. It doesn’t benefit you,” Poulton said. “I think just focusing on the next play and just allowing yourself to have grace for yourself allows you to play better.”

That mentality proved incredibly beneficial as Woods Cross once again dominated the fifth set. It came out swinging and quickly built a 9-1 lead.

As usual it was a combined effort. An ace from Sarah Robison, a block and a kill from Tapaatoutai and kills from Poulton all lifted the Wildcats to the convincing lead.

All that set up Tausinga’s championship winning kill. She ended with 15 kills and a team-high 18 digs.

“I think it was just forgetting about your mistakes, moving on, coming back stronger than ever,” Tausinga said. “We all make mistakes. Who cares? Just come back better.”

While the Wildcats saw heroics around the court, the clear star of the championship game was Kansas commit Poulton. She ended the game with 24 kills and 16 digs.

“We’ve said all along we’ve ridden Avery’s coattails,” Hogan said. “I know it is a team sport and these girls are dynamic, but Avery is next level.

“We’d be in situations a lot of times where I would probably call a timeout, but I have Avery and she bailed us out time after time after time all year long.”

The win ended a 46-year championship drought for Woods Cross girls volleyball.

“The level of competitors that these girls are is unreal,” Hogan said. “The look on their face, they just made their minds up. They knew they were going to win.”