(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Enterprise's Jessica Holt and Ronnie Robinson celebrates a point as Enterprise faces North Summit in the 2A State Volleyball Championship game in Orem, Saturday October 28, 2017.
Orem • On the verge of achieving their goal for the season, Hunter Vernon and her teammates huddled together on the court with one task in mind.
“Last one,” they said. “Last one.”
It wouldn’t be quite the easy.
Vernon and the North Summit Braves heard the announcer’s voice inside the UCCU Center at Utah Valley University say “set and match point” 10 times Saturday night.
But in the end, after a valiant effort from the Enterprise Wolves had ended with a ball struck too low and into the net, the Braves huddled together once more, this time as back-to-back Class 2A volleyball state champions.
“I don’t even know how to explain those last 10 points,” Vernon said after a 34-32 win in the decisive fourth set. “They were exhausting and so exciting and emotional all in one.”
As her players jumped together, holding their new trophy over their heads, North Summit coach Samantha Stephens finally relaxed.
“We just battled,” she said. “That was, like, the most intense hour of my life.”
After winning its first state title a year ago, the Braves said all season long they were looking to add to their trophy case.
“That was our goal from the beginning of the season,” Stephens said.
NORTH SUMMIT 3, ENTERPRISE 1 <br>• North Summit needs 10 tries at match point before finishing off the Enterprise Wolves, 34-32, in the fourth and final set. <br>• The Braves defend their state title from a year ago, their first in school history. <br>• Enterprise wins the second set 26-24, the only set it took against North Summit in two meetings this year.
North Summit battled through injuries, including having to wait until mid-September for Vernon, its star outside hitter and lone senior, to be ready to play following an ACL surgery. That adversity seemed to prepare the Braves for a back-and-forth battle with Enterprise on Saturday.
The Braves took control of the first set with a 25-23 win.
North Summit won the head-to-head matchup with Enterprise during the season, beating the Wolves in two sets in Coalville earlier this year. As the two teams battled back and forth, Enterprise middle blocker Ronnie Robinson made sure, at the very least, it wouldn’t be a clean sweep this time around, rising up and hammering a kill to give the Wolves a 26-24 win in the second set.
The Wolves went up 17-10 in the third set before the Braves rallied to take a 20-19 lead. Vernon finished the rally, sealing a 25-23 win.
“Hunter’s our stud,” Stephens said. “She’s our go-to girl.”
North Summit went up 24-21 in the fourth set but, with the match on the line, saw the full scope of Enterprise’s spirit.
“We kept fighting,” Wolves coach Brian Phelps said. “I’d like to have made it one more play or two.”
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