‘Preparation and practice’: Cole serves Bonneville volleyball to win over Roy
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- Bonneville High’s Semisi Christensen, center left, rises for a swing against Roy’s Ethan Casper during a match Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington Terrace.
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- Roy High’s Brayden Wells receives the volleyball in a match against Bonneville on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington Terrace.
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- Bonneville High’s Talon Rocha reaches to tip the volleyball in a match against Roy on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington Terrace.
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- Roy High’s Ethan Casper (30) strikes the ball against the block of Bonneville’s Talon Rocha (2) and Zachary Dickamore (18) on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington Terrace.
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- Roy High’s Kael Miller prepares to serve the volleyball in a match against Bonneville on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington Terrace.
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- Bonneville High’s Jase Musgrave sets the volleyball in a match against Roy on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington Terrace.
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- Roy High’s Will Coburn (24) passes the ball to the net as Cole Bellus (27) times his approach during a match against Bonneville on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington Terrace.
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- Bonneville High’s Semisi Christensen serves the volleyball against Roy on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington Terrace.
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- Roy High boys volleyball coach Brad Hulse crouches to watch the action in a match at Bonneville on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington Terrace.
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- Roy High boys volleyball players huddle during a match against Bonneville on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington Terrace.
WASHINGTON TERRACE — Trailing Roy 21-12 in the fourth set, Bonneville had the Royals right where it wanted them in a boys volleyball match Tuesday night.
The Lakers had already rallied from behind to win set one, aided by four straight service points by Tyler Cole, and turned things over to the second-year senior again.
Cole and company responded with an 11-0 run and Bonneville closed out the match in extra time, winning the fourth set 27-25.
Bonneville swept the season series against the Royals with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 16-25 27-25) victory in a Region 5 thriller.
“Don’t give up because the game’s never over ’til it’s over,” Cole said. “On the first three (serves) I was just working on getting the ball over the net. … There was one player who was struggling, so I peppered him every single time and it worked out for me today.”
Cole just picked up a volleyball last year and has adapted quickly. His serves were lasers which barely cleared the net and gave the Royals fits.
“I’m a football guy; it’s a mental game for me. Football is totally different. In volleyball, it’s stay out of my head and work on technique,” Cole said. “Work on what you do in practice.”
Practice kicked in from the onset as Bonneville was down 21-18 late in the first set when Cole served the Lakers to a 22-21 lead.
“Honestly, preparation and practice. I practice a little side-to-side movement to get the ball to move,” Cole said.
Roy (4-10, 2-9 Region 5) evened things at 22 but Bonneville senior outside hitter Semisi Christensen spiked four consecutive kills for the first set win.
Christensen finished with 19 kills, including four aces. Talon Rocha checked in with eight kills and Jase Musgrave set up 42 assists. Cole had seven kills for the Lakers.
“Everyone’s role is pretty much the same; we’re all a huge part of the team,” Cole said. “My role specifically is trying to keep the energy up. I’m here to do my job, have some fun and get some kills.”
By all rights, it looked to be a three-set sweep from the Lakers but the Royals didn’t like that script, dominating the third set and rolling to the huge advantage in that fourth before Bonneville bounced back.
“Volleyball is a game of momentum. When you lose it, you have to fight really hard to get it back,” Bonneville coach Kirt Williams said. “Luckily, Tyler helped us get that momentum back. Once we did, we started rolling to get the match.”
Bonneville (8-13, 3-8) also defeated Roy 3-1 last month but Williams doesn’t think the Lakers have Roy’s number.
“When you have a rivalry game, anything can happen. They came to battle us and weren’t going to quit. We showed a lot of heart and were able to steal the last one from them. I’m proud of the kids for that,” Williams said. “It’s been our theme this year — try to give games away as much as we can — and we did it again tonight. But we got it done and I’m happy about that.”
Roy coach Brad Hulse wanted to put Tuesday’s loss behind him as soon as possible.
“Give them credit; they did some good things and we couldn’t break their momentum streak,” Hulse said. “There’s nothing we can do about this one but learn from it and move on to the next one. Tomorrow’s another day. The next match is the most important one. Keep working on getting better and get ready for state.”
Both teams are well out of the region race so seeding and the playoffs are the next objectives on the radar.
“We’re more seasoned than we were at the first of the year. Now we’re battling with everyone, whereas at the first of the season, we lost some games 3-0 we felt we should have been a part of,” Williams said. “As we prepare for state, we’re going to start picking it up towards our goal of making a deep run.”
