High school girls volleyball: Orem survives Green Canyon comeback to win 4A state championship

It’s been a rare occurrence for the Orem Tigers to be forced onto their back foot this year, as they’ve lost only three games the entire season — two to 6A’s top teams in Corner Canyon and Skyridge, and the third to Green Canyon.

It’s only natural then that Orem’s final test in the 4A state championship match Friday night was to get revenge against the rolling Green Canyon Wolves, but it wasn’t just a chance at getting back at Green Canyon. It was also an opportunity to redeem last year’s championship match loss to Desert Hills.

Fortunately for the Tigers, they withstood a reverse sweep Friday to beat Green Canyon, 25-22, 25-20, 25-27, 21-25 and 15-8.

“I think the message that was loud and clear for us was we can’t go back and fix the past,” said Orem head coach Bill Sefita. “What we can do is focus on how to respond, the attitude we can bring in and the efforts that we can bring into Set 5.”

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Orem desperately needed the short-term memory Friday. The Tigers looked polished to start and set up their block early while the Wolves struggled to clean up their mistakes (they had five service errors in the first set).

Then, when Orem took the second set 25-20, it looked like it was going to be a quick 3-0 win, but Green Canyon wasn’t so keen on allowing that to happen as Wolves Audrey White, Avery Birch and Avery Fauth started to take over.

Whereas before they struggled to hit around the Tigers’ block, they started to excel by getting ahead of it. Orem also started playing more reserved and Green Canyon took advantage with back-to-back set wins.

“I think we just had to remind the girls that we’re playing to win versus playing not to lose,” Sefita said. “I think you saw that in Sets 3 and 4.

“The girls that were always afraid of not losing, so reminding them we didn’t come this far by tipping and giving them free balls. We came because we were risky and ripping the ball.”

That coaching advice made all the difference in Set 5, especially for freshman phenom and outside hitter Meilani Akana.

Akana had a chance in the third set to put Green Canyon away, as she had a sequence of kills and an ace to force a 24-22 set point, but she gave up a service error and Green Canyon wrested the momentum away en route to a 27-25 set win.

She was determined not to let that happen again.

With the Tigers holding a slim 9-7 lead, Akana had a sequence of three kills, two aces and a dig to clutch out the 15-8 championship-sealing set win.

Akana, who is a member of the U17 Brazilian national team, had a team-high 25 kills and three aces Friday in the win.

“I just wanted to win so bad,” Akana said. “I think after the third set I just had to put everything in the past.

“It’s such an honor being able to come play with these girls. I love them. I think it’s such an honor to play with them and be able to win.”

Orem junior Madi Scott also had 16 kills, and senior Haven Michaelis had 10.

The Tigers are a unique championship squad in that they have only two seniors on the squad; Michaelis and libero Eve Allred.

“I feel like this year I’ve like really struggled with injuries, so I haven’t been able to contribute as much physically,” said Michaelis. “Something I’ve really been focused on, both me and Eve, has been uplifting the team and making sure we play all together because we have so much talent.

“We’re such a deep team, but in the end, in those tight fifth sets, it really comes down to how much we trust each other and how much we play together.”

Friday’s championship is the third title in four years for Orem.