Lehi coach Jamie Ingersoll said that in her team’s first two tournament matches, “we beat Northridge 25-22, 25-19 and Hillcrest 25-9, 25-11. In our match against Northridge, neither team had a lead of more than two points. We played conservatively on offense in our first two matches. When you do that, you can get into trouble.”

In the third match, the Pioneers found themselves in very tight action in both of their games against the Layton Lancers. Defeating Layton 25-17, 25-23, Lehi found it had to deal with strong hitting from Kodi Cartwright and Michelle Carver. Those two Lancers made the second game a close affair after Lehi had dominated the first game.

Game 1 saw the Pioneers leap out to a 10-4 lead through hits registered by Christina Measom, Megan Zimmerman, Kehau Ha’o, and Britney Wilson.

When the score read 22-12, Lehi, Layton made a frantic effort at rallying back. Carver and Cartwright guided the Lancers within 24-17, but a Meason kill shut down the comeback.

For the second game, Zimmerman and Measom’s kills paced Lehi out to another 10-4 lead. This time, the Lancers rallied back better. Kira Williams and Kathryn LeCheminant produced spikes that enabled Layton to march back within 15-14.

A Zimmerman kill prevented the Lancers from tying the game, but they kept on pressing Lehi’s front line hard. After a LeCheminant kill had put Layton within 23-22, the Lancers doomed themselves

This story appeared in North County on page A6.