High school volleyball teams ready for action

The Hunter, Cyprus and Granger girls volleyball season is in full swing.

Tryouts for Hunter, Cyprus and Granger teams were held throughout the week of Aug. 8-12. Both Hunter and Granger had about half of the girls who played for the team last year return to play this year. The other half consists of new players coming out to make the team for the first time.

“Quite a few new kids came to tryout this year,” Hunter volleyball coach Pam Olson said. “Most of them are sophomores that haven’t played before.”

The teams will begin their preseason games during the latter part of August. They are scheduled to play about six preseason games before they begin their region matches. The Granger volleyball team has already set goals for the year as it forms its team.

“Our main focus this year is to make our offense quicker,” Granger volleyball coach Kylee Gardner said. “We also have a team motto this year to motivate us, which is: ‘hard work will make us team champions.’”

Once the Hunter team tryouts are completed, the Lady Wolverines will sit down together and set their goals as a team for the things they want to accomplish this year, Olson said.

The Wolverines start their preseason with a tournament at Woods Cross Aug. 19-20, followed by another tournament at Northridge Aug. 26-27. They will play four more preseason games before their first region game at home against Viewmont Sept. 13.

Granger played its first preseason game at Westlake Aug. 16. The Lancers’ first region game will be at home against Taylorsville Sept. 13.

Each team will play 10 region games to determine their placement at state. The state volleyball tournament will be held Nov. 4-5 at Utah Valley University in Orem.

Hunter is coming off a second-place finish in Region 2, having gone 10-2 in league games a year ago. The Wolverines went 12-7 overall and lost a pair of games in the double-elimination 5A state tournament. Cyprus and Granger, meanwhile, will attempt to get on the winning side of the standings. The Pirates and Lancers finished with 5-17 and 3-10 records, respectively, in 2010.