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Morgan High volleyball players high-five each other before a match at Ogden High on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

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Morgan High volleyball players Gentry Criddle, center, and Hadley Ovard, left, prepare to pass the ball during a match at Ogden High on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

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OGDEN — Every year around this time, the leaves on the trees turn various colors.

Almost as reliably as the leaves changing colors, the green seats at the UCCU Center arena at Utah Valley University get covered by a maroon-clad mass of volleyball fans.

Morgan High’s volleyball team is preparing for a state-title defense this week when the 3A tournament brings its 16 remaining teams under one roof to get down to one champion.

The Trojans won last year’s 3A championship, their 20th in school history, to snap a three-year title run by Union, all of which had come against the Trojans. They’ve gone to nine straight state title games with five championships since 2014.

Speaking after sweeping Ogden last Tuesday to put a bow on yet another region championship, junior outside hitter Gentry Criddle pointed out a couple of strengths of this year’s Morgan team.

“I think we did well just hitting the ball; (opponents) didn’t really know where the ball was going. Sometimes they camp on Liv (Alyvia Jaffa), but I feel like we have good hitters everywhere on the court, so anyone could put the ball away, and they had a hard time stopping that,” Criddle said.

Other teams naturally pay attention to Jaffa, the Trojans’ 6-foot-3 senior middle hitter who’s bound for college volleyball at UVU.

She has 302 kills, a .325 hitting percentage, 95 total blocks and 31 aces. Jaffa’s third in the whole state in blocks and ranks in the top 20 for kills and hitting percentage.

It’s opened up the court for Criddle (253 kills, .221 hitting percentage), Keira Brewer (119 kills) and Tori Smith (114 kills).

Above taking advantage of opponents’ blocking tendencies, the Trojans have been ramping things up behind the scenes after what Criddle called a “lazy” beginning to the season.

“They don’t come to compete all the time in practice but lately they have, and it pushes us, it makes it a lot better team,” coach Liz Wiscombe said.

Morgan (22-6) faces No. 15 Judge Memorial in Wednesday’s second round. The Trojans could face the Ogden-Richfield winner in the quarterfinals and possibly No. 3 Carbon or No. 6 Union in the semis. Emery is the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

“I like that this group’s not afraid to swing and I like that this group’s not afraid to take on a challenge, and they don’t back down,” Wiscombe said.

Speaking of Ogden, the Tigers (18-11) are the No. 7 seed and open against No. 10 Richfield in the second round on Wednesday.

It’s a rematch of last year’s state semifinal that the Wildcats won 3-1, and Ogden took fourth place in the tournament after losing 3-2 to Emery in the third-place match.

Ella Tuttle leads Ogden with 273 kills to go with a .211 hitting percentage. Senior setter Megan Aardema is second in 3A with 683 assists. Ben Lomond and Layton Christian were both eliminated in the 3A first round on Saturday.

2A TOURNAMENT

In 2A, St. Joseph Catholic High is a No. 5 seed in this year’s tournament but already started its playoff run with a straight-sets sweep (25-6, 25-9, 25-6) over No. 28 APA-West Valley on Saturday at home. Laura Skerkoski had 12 kills and Lizzie Randall had six and 14 assists. The Jayhawks hit 27 aces as a team.

They’re 22-3 after a second-place finish in Region 17 behind APA-Draper. They’ve won 61 sets and lost nine this season, meaning all 22 wins have come by straight sets.

“We’ve had a great season so far. I’m really pleased with where we’re at and where we’re seeded. We have a fun group — very competitive, very solid group of players this year,” St. Joseph coach Cindy White said.

The junior class is the big one for the Jayhawks, with 10 juniors including Skerkoski, Randall and Leticia Ramos as the top three hitters, plus Randall and Juliana Netherton as the two main setters. Every statistical category has a junior at No. 1.

“Our juniors are very solid. … I was really excited for this season, I knew we had depth and I knew we had a lot of potential,” White said.

The state tournament has been a tough place for the Jayhawks recently. St. Joseph was a No. 12 seed last year and went 0-2 at the 2022 tournament’s neutral site.

As a No. 3 seed in 2021, the Jayhawks were upset in the quarterfinals by No. 11 South Sevier in straight sets, an example of how the rural public schools typically dominate the 2A volleyball state tournament. Parowan and Kanab are the top two seeds.

Should St. Joseph beat No. 12 Intermountain Christian in Friday’s second-round meeting, it would presumably face No. 4 North Summit in the quarterfinals a couple of hours later.

The Jayhawks swept ICS in the season opener, but White said it’s paramount they focus on the task at hand, “which is always a hard thing in a volleyball tournament because you play so quickly after and you’re anticipating who you play next, right?” White said.

3A/2A TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

All games are at the UCCU Center at Utah Valley University in Orem.

3A SECOND ROUND & QUARTERFINALS: Wednesday

10:30 a.m. — (7) Ogden vs. (10) Richfield, (2) Morgan vs. (15) Judge Memorial

1:30 p.m. — Quarterfinals and one-loss bracket games

3A SEMIFINALS & FINALS: Thursday

11 a.m. — Semifinals

4:30 p.m. — Championship

2A SECOND ROUND & QUARTERFINALS: Friday

4 p.m. — (5) St. Joseph vs. (12) Intermountain Christian

7 p.m. — Quarterfinals and one-loss bracket games

2A SEMIFINALS & FINALS: Saturday

11 a.m. — Semifinals

7 p.m. — Championship

Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.