Girls volleyball: Ogden digs in, sweeps Roy in familiar faceoff
Friends become foes as Ogden pulls off gritty sweep at home
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- Ogden High junior Macie Richards (6) sends the ball past two Roy defenders during a home match Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Roy junior Reese Burnett (2) motivates her teammates in between serves during a road match at Ogden High Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Ogden High junior Salote Tonga (27), senior Tess Correa (11), and junior Macie Richards (6) line up before a Roy serve during a home match Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Roy head volleyball coach Tammy McKean pulls her team together during a timeout during a road match at Ogden High on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Ogden.
OGDEN — “Mental toughness” is a highly-valued commodity inside Ogden High volleyball.
It’s also what Tigers (4-6) head coach Bradley Hulse feels his girls leaned on to sweep Roy (25-18, 25-20, 25-18) at home Tuesday night. Now in his sixth season at Ogden, Hulse knows too well how much a match against the Royals (4-6) means to everyone involved.
“It’s (really) a rivalry match,” Hulse said. “We haven’t played each other a lot, but our kids know each other and they’re good friends with Roy — they’re good people and stuff — so it’s kind of a tougher game for us playing through and the normal friendship and stuff.”
Friend or foe, Ogden established itself at the net from the first set.
Ogden juniors Macie Richards (12 kills, 10 digs) and Lauretta Taukiuvea (11 kills, three blocks) channeled multiple runs — rallying back from down four during the third set — throughout the night. Elsewhere, Ogden junior setter Tabitha Merrill racked up a game-high 31 assists.
Ogden senior captain Tess Correa agreed with her coach about her team’s ability to dig deep.
“Volleyball is all mental and you gotta know where the holes are,” Correa said.
“I think they were scrappy,” she continued. “They were picking it up, they were reading off what we were doing and our tendencies. … We got to give them credit for it, they showed out too.”
Roy head coach Tammy McKean, who regularly coaches summer volleyball alongside Hulse during the offseason, said the game was a strong test for a Royals team still learning about themselves.
McKean is encouraged by the in-match tweaks she witnessed from her younger contributors and hopes such corrections continue into the back half of the schedule. Juniors Reese Burnett (three kills, six aces, nine digs) and junior Baylin Blanco (13 digs) shined on the Royals’ scorecard.
“We have a ton of respect for each other,” McKean said. “I knew (this) was going to be a smart hitters game and there was a lot of that going on. Ogden did a great job. The Tigers did a great job hitting really smart. … We have some really young players at the net, they were learning through every single point tonight and I love the adjustments they were making. ”
Both squads return to action Thursday with Ogden welcoming in Morgan (6:30 p.m.) and Roy traveling to Northridge (6:30 p.m.) for region matches.