OGDEN — They are not senior-laden, but the youthful Jayhawks are still undefeated.
St. Joseph repeated as gold-bracket champion of the Jayhawk Invitational on Saturday, taking just 32 minutes to spank Region 17 rival Layton Christian 25-14, 25-14 in father Neale Herrlich Gymnasium.
The Jayhawks (10-0 overall) went 7-0 at the two-day, 12-team volleyball tournament, sweeping every match in two games.
“The last two days we really stepped our game up,” said two-time tournament most valuable player Britt Sederholm. “We wanted to win it again. It was kind of a surprise beating everybody in two games. We work hard everyday trying to get better.”
Sederholm, a sophomore middle blocker, was joined on the all-tournament team by St. Joseph teammates Emmie Oliver, Samantha Bischoff, Jessica Bischoff and Mady White.
“It feels really good being MVP,” said the 15-year-old Sederholm. “I’m proud of my team and I couldn’t have done it without them. It’s great being undefeated. I hope we can keep it going and have a great season.”
The Jayhawks are defending Region 17 regular-season and tournament champions. They finished fourth at the 2010 state 1-A tournament en route to a 26-7 season.
“This will boost our confidence,” Sederholm said. “Our focus in practice is pushing toward state, so this should make us more focused.”
Samantha Bischoff had eight kills and two aces. Sederholm had seven kills, six digs and two aces; Oliver, the team’s setter, had 16 assists and four aces; and White, a freshman libero, had seven digs and three aces for the Jayhawks, who had 12 aces and committed only four service errors.
“We lost six seniors and we only have two this year, but they (Oliver and Samantha Bischoff) are great leaders,” Sederholm said. “We’re a good all-around team, and there are some areas we have to work on.
“We need to keep our spirits up if we start to lose and not get down on each other,” she said. “We’re a really close team and we do so much away stuff away from volleyball. We are like a family.”
Sederholm is a year-round volleyball player.
“Volleyball is my passion,” she said. “I love this St. Joseph team. I want to put the ball down and keep my team motivated. Volleyball is a team sport, and if you don’t have the other five players you won’t succeed.”
The Eagles’ Melina Bachtar and Daydria Walker were also named to the Jayhawk Invitational all-tournament team.
“The girls have been in a constant state of transition the last three years,” said Angie Hopes, who is Layton Christian’s third coach in three years. “It’s about the team coming together and learning a new system.
“This group has an unbelievable amount of potential, if they just realize it,” she said. “We have had a lot of ups-and-downs, so we still have a lot of work to do. St. Joseph is our competition, and we have them again this week (Tuesday at St. Joseph).
“Serving killed us in Game 2,” Hopes said. “We can’t miss 5-of-7 serves.”
Zakiya Harris had five kills, one block assist and a dig; Bachtar had four kills, two block assists and two digs; and setter Anna Ruzkova had 13 assists for Layton Christian (10-8), which had two aces and seven service errors.
• Bingham def. syracuse 25-22, 26-24, 25-14: At Syracuse on Friday, the Titans’ Maggie Hansen had 10 kills and 18 digs; Kara Mudrow had nine kills and eight digs; and setter Danielle Parker had 28 assists and seven digs for Syracuse (14-6).
Cross country
• DARTS, TIGERS WIN TITLES: Top of Utah schools dominated the BYU Autumn Classic cross country invitational Saturday, with Davis’ boys and Ogden High’s girls capturing team titles over the 5-kilometer on-campus course at Brigham Young University.
The nationally-ranked Davis boys team ran 1-2-4-5-7 to post a stunning 19-point total. Even though rival American Fork didn’t field a boys team, the Darts were simply dominating.
Davis senior Brad Nye won the 5K race in 15 minutes, 50.5 seconds, followed by teammate Preston Johnson and Mountain View’s Jaydn Asay. Davis’ Brayden Cromar, Alex Hedquist and Skylar Williams ran 4-5-7, with Viewmont’s Kevin Martin sixth overall.
Mountain View ran second with 50 points, followed by Bountiful (139) and Mountain Crest (140). Bear River finished seventh, with Viewmont ninth.
On the girls side, area runners took seven of the top 10 spots, led by Box Elder senior Kelsey Braithwaite, who won the 5K race in 17:56.3.
Ogden’s Sarah Feeny and Jamie Stokes finished next, with North Summit’s Erica Birk fourth.
The Darts were led by Shea Martinez in seventh place, with Mountain Crest’s Tori Parkinson eighth and Ogden’s Avery Calton 10th. Davis’ Joanna Boyd ran 12th.
Ogden finished with 44 points to finish ahead of Mountain View (60), Davis (80) and Mountain Crest (95).
Viewmont was eighth overall, with Bear River 10th.
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