Mountain View is facing one of the more difficult schedules in all of Utah high school volleyball and got a big victory in Highland Tuesday night.The Bruins dug out of a 2-0 hole to win two straight sets and force a fifth against perennial powerhouse Lone Peak. In that deciding set, the Bruins got back-to-back points from Lucy Perez and the last of her 28 kills found its way inside the Knights block at match point. Mountain View celebrated a 3-2 (24-26, 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-13) win against the defending Class 6A champions.

It’s not often that Lone Peak opens the season with a loss to an in-state team, so last week’s 3-1 defeat against Skyline raised some eyebrows. The Knights fought hard against a Mountain View team that had leads late in every set, but the Bruins survived by missing fewer serves and swinging hard against the Lone Peak’s block.

“We knew that the Lone Peak block was really good but we told the players to attack the block,” Mountain View coach Dave Neeley said. “We told them to get blocked, it doesn’t matter. Just swing hard and keep swinging. We saw toward the end of the match even though the big block was there, we started getting kills around the block, and that was awesome.”

In the fifth and final set the score was tied at 8 when Mountain View got a little separation. Lee blasted a kill and Katlyn Scott earned an ace for a 10-8 lead. Lone Peak stayed close but the Bruins held that advantage and took a 14-12 lead after a Perez kill that climbed over the net. That set up Perez’s final strike for the win.

Perez finished with only four errors on her match-high 28 kills.

“They were the 6A champs last year and we were second (in 5A),” Perez said. “I think it was really awesome coming in and winning this match. We would get up and have all this momentum, and then we’d let up. But we picked it up in the end. We were doing really well communicating with each other and letting each other know what was open and where to score points and win.”

Perez had plenty of offensive help from middle hitter Mia Lee (18) kills, Lili Suguturaga (11) and Kelly Wesley (10), along with a fine setting game from Kaylin Scott.

Lone Peak led 17-12 in the first set after a kill and a block from Kinley Swan, but Mountain View came firing back behind Lee. The junior middle blocker had a block and three kills to lead the Bruins to a 23-21 advantage. Back-to-back aces from Jayda Tupea pushed Lone Peak to a 24-23 lead. With the set tied at 24, KJ Burgess blasted an Mountain View overpass for a point and won the set on a service ace at 26-24.

The Bruins took a 9-6 lead in the second set on a Lee kill and consecutive kills by Perez extended the Bruins advantage to 15-9. But the home team fought back and finally took control late in the set. Kelsie Valgardson came off the bench to serve a pair of aces for a 24-22 lead and the Knights finished things off at 25-22 after a Mountain View hitting error.

The Bruins roared to a 9-4 lead on a Lee attack in Set 3 and that ballooned to 19-10 on a Lone Peak hitting error. Once again, the Knights rallied, closing to 22-19 after a Mountain View error. Lone Peak managed to fight off two Bruin set points but a hitting error ended the set with Mountain View earning a 25-22 win.

The Bruins took control early in Set 4 and led 9-4 after a Lee kill. Lone Peak chased the visitors all set, getting within two on numerous occasions and finally pulling even, 23-23, when Tupea and Burgess teamed up for a block. After a long rally, Wesley tooled a shot off the block to get to set point and Scott served an ace for the 25-23 win to force the fifth set.

Lone Peak’s preseason continues with a Thursday match at defending 5A champion Timpview.

On Thursday Mountain View will host Idaho powerhouse Skyview, which includes BYU recruit Eden Bower, younger sister of Cougar setter Whitney Bower. Also on the slate for the Bruins are 6A semifinalist Pleasant Grove and Timpview, which beat Mountain View in five sets in the title match last year.

“We’re scheduling those teams because we want an opportunity to learn how good we are and to show how good we are,” Neeley said.

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