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Lone Peak senior Kelli Jo Burgess (12) goes up for a block during the nonregion game at Timpview on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. (Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald)

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Lone Peak senior Hannah Hawkins (right) goes up for a block during the nonregion game at Timpview on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. (Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald)

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Timpview head coach Charmay Lee talks to her team during the nonregion game against Lone Peak in Provo on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. (Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald)

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Lone Peak head coach Reed Carlson directs his team during the nonregion game at Timpview on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. (Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald)

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Lone Peak senior Emeline Hudson (7) hits the ball during the nonregion game at Timpview on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. (Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald)

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One of the simplest sports adages is that to be the best you’ve got to beat the best.

To give themselves the best chance to do that, the top high school volleyball teams often put together a brutal preseason schedule.

“It’s just evolution,” Lone Peak head coach Reed Carlson said after Thursday’s match at Timpview. “We wanted to play a really tough preseason schedule which I think we’ve done, and it will continue to do. That’s what we want. It’s not about winning the every match. If we lose, we lose. I just would like to win the last match of the year.”

Thunderbird head coach Charmay Lee has the same mentality, which is exactly why she wanted her Timpview squad (the defending 5A champs) to face Carlson’s squad, which has won the 6A title in four of the past five years.

“They are amazing and have a really competitive squad,” Lee said. “They have been the champs for a reason. We love playing them.”

Both coaches got exactly what they wanted, in a hard fought battle that could have gone either way.

In the end, however, it was the Knights who made the key plays down the stretch in each of the three sets. Lone peak ended up getting its first win of the season with the 3-0 sweep (27-25, 25-21, 25-21).

“We needed our outsides to step up, because that was the part of our game in our first few matches that let down a little bit,” Carlson said. “Both Emeline (Hudson) and Jayda (Tupea) played huge. I think Jayda had about as good of a match as an outside can play tonight. She played really well and I was really proud of her.”

One of the big keys for the Knights was the performance at the net. Senior middle blockers Kelli Jo Burgess and Kinley Swan with the help of senior setter Hannah Hawkins and the outside hitters made things really difficult for the Thunderbird offense.

“I think with the type of athletes that we have our serving and with our block always gives us an advantage,” Carlson said. “we definitely capitalize that on the end of those sets for sure.”

Timpview still had its chances, as it had two set points in the first set and led by five points midway through the second set.

Both times, however, Lone Peak rallied and came out victorious.

“I talked to our team about how if you go up 5-0 against a team like Lone Peak, they are going to come back,” Lee said. “We can’t take that for granted. I am starting three freshmen, so they’re getting used to it with our upperclassmen. They’re doing amazing. They’re amazing girls, but just that culture, the varsity attitude and the confidence that a varsity player brings is kind of something that they are learning as well.”

Carlson said he was pleased with how his Knights were able to apply things they had been working on from their first two losses.

“They forced us to have to see some things in our block and in our defense that we needed to make adjustments on, and especially with our serving and passing as well,” Carlson said. “So we went back and we worked on that. We identified some roles for our outsides, some things we needed them to do coming into today. And they did it.”

Lee plans to do the exact same thing with her team after the defeat, using it as a way to see where the squad needs to get better.

“We like our girls getting beat up and we feel like this is one of our games that really sets us far ahead of other programs because we kind of beat up on each other a lot,” Lee said. “With my girls it’s about being able to handle the pressure and not making mistakes at the end. It’s being able to play well in this environment.”

Lone Peak (1-2) will continue facing tough competition when it plays at Fremont on Aug. 31, while Timpview (1-1) will hosts another 6A power in Pleasant Grove on Sept. 1.

Both matches are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

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