Responding to adversity: Mountain View girls volleyball sweeps Timpanogos
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- Mountain View’s Elle Richardson (0) sets the ball while Kinley Larsen of Timpanogos defends in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Mountain View players celebrate a point against Timpanogos in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Mountain View’s Keilani Wesley (left) takes a swing against Timpanogos in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Megan Seaman takes a swing against Mountain View in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Penny Scribner of Timpanogos serves the ball against Mountain View in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Timpanogos girls volleyball coach Jen Downey encourages her team in a high school match against Mountain View on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Mountain View’s Linnea Phillips (21) takes a swing against Timpanogos in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Mountain View’s Mehani Suguturaga tips the ball against Timpanogos in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Timpanogos players celebrate a point against Mountain View in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Timpanogos players celebrate a point against Mountain View in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Mountain View’s Jaycee Carlson takes a swing against Timpanogos in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Cousins Penny Scribner (background) and Megan Seaman (19) prepare for the serve against Mountain View in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Mountain View’s Elle Richardson (0) sets the ball while Megan Seaman of Timpanogos defends in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Kinley Larsen of Timpanogos serves against Mountain View in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Players on the Mountain View bench celebrate an ace against Timpanogos in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Mountain View players celebrate a point against Timpanogos in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Shelby Hartman of Timpanogos sets the ball against Mountain View in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Kinley Larsen of Timpanogos serves the ball against Mountain View in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Megan Seaman of Timpanogos watches her serve against Mountain View in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Mountain View’s Keilani Wesley serves against Timpanogos in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Kinley Larsen of Timpanogos serves against Mountain View in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Mountain View’s Elle Richardson prepares to serve against Timpanogos in a high school girls volleyball match on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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- Mountain View’s Jaycee Carlson is introduced before a high school girls volleyball match against Timpanogos on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
The Mountain View girls volleyball team soared to a 9-0 start in 2025, sweeping all nine opponents including the first two they faced at the Utah Valley Invitational last week.
Then the Bruins faced their first adversity of the season, losing three straight matches to 6A No. 1 Skyridge, Skyline and Mountain Ridge.
Getting back on track required revisiting two key goals new coach Zach Richardson created for his team: “Swing away” and “be scrappy.”
Mountain View opened Region 8 play with a sweep of Timpanogos on Thursday (25-23, 25-12, 25-17).
“They responded pretty well,” said Richardson, who was an assistant for the Bruins last season. “I think we’re still kind of digging out of it right now. Tonight, we just kept swinging. We’re a really good attacking team but we really want to improve on that. We started to show that a little bit more and attack out of system. Our big goal is to just swing away, high and hard, and we did that. Our attacking definitely improved tonight.”
As for the “be scrappy” part, that’s coming along as well.
“We’ve decided to be as scrappy as possible,” Richardson said. “They’ve really committed to it and they’re getting better every week. We practice it all the freaking time. We do a lot of defensive drills and we do a lot of hitting at them. They’ve got all the floor burns and everything. We work on it daily and it’s starting to show.”
Richardson’s daughter, senior setter Elle Richardson, keeps things running smoothly for the Bruins.
“My goal is to put up hittable balls and just keep our hitters in system as much as possible,” she said. “Then I’m just their biggest cheerleader, whether they get a kill or get blocked our we cover them, whatever it is, we just go again. I have full confidence in them. Let them go do the work, have all the glory and have fun. I’m just a facilitator.”
Elle Richardson is more than a facilitator at times, taking teams by surprise with her sneaky dump attacks. Otherwise, she’s feeding a strong group of attackers led by senior Jaycee Carlson, junior Keilani Wesley, sophomore Mehani Suguturaga and junior Linnea Phillips.
“I love our energy,” Elle Richardson said. “We’re a very rowdy, loud, fun team. Whether we have fans or don’t have fans, we make our own noise and we get into team’s heads. It’s fun to know it’s “ride or die” for the six on the court. We’ve got each other’s back and when someone new comes on, we got their back, and it just kind of keeps going. It’s something where even if we make mistakes, we build each other up. It’s a very positive, energetic team and I love that.”
Set 1 against Timpanogos was close and was tied six times. Three straight kills from Carlson pushed Mountain View to a 22-19 lead, but the T-Wolves rallied and tied the set at 22 after an ace from Shelby Hartman. Kills from Carlson and Wesley gave the Bruins a 24-22 lead and Wesley ended it with another kill for the 25-23 win.
Mountain View scored five straight points to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 10-5 lead in Set 2 and took off from there. Phillips had a solo block and Suguturaga blasted a kill as the Bruins soared to an 18-10 lead. At set point, Wesley tooled her shot off the block for the 25-12 victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Set 3 as tied at 9-9 when Mountain View took control. A Richardson dump attack and an ace from Wesley got the home team out to a 13-9 lead. An ace from Suguturaga gave the Bruins a 21-16 advantage and the final three points were scored on a Richardson dump attack, a Phillips kill and a Carlson attack for the 25-17 win and the sweep.
Elle Richardson said her team learned a lot from their experience at the Utah Valley Invitational.
“I think it taught us to never fully give up on this,” she said. “We were blowing through a ton of teams, and it was fun, but we got a little bit of a reality shock when we did get beat. We’re one of the best teams and we were holding up against Skyridge. It’s something where we all got a little bit fiery because we’re ready to go through region and play all of our teams, and then go play Skyridge again, and go play Orem. I think this team has very big goals and very high expectations. We work really hard in practice and we’re ready to meet those good teams.”
Mountain View (11-3, 1-0 Region 8) will get another shot at Skyridge and a good group of opponents in a few weeks when it hosts the Champions Challenge Oct. 3-4.
“We’re really grateful to actually have that challenge for us,” Coach Richardson said. “It reset us that we can go compete against that level. I think its something we’re looking forward to, competing against those teams again.”
