Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

OREM — For four sets of volleyball Thursday, there was arguably no team better in the UCCU Center than Northridge High.

The No. 11 Knights upset No. 6 West Jordan in straight sets in the second round of the 5A state tournament, then blitzed No. 14 Alta 25-10 in the first set of the teams’ afternoon quarterfinal afternoon.

For a moment, the possibility of 11th-seeded Northridge making a surprise run to the state semifinals seemed closed. Maybe even too close.

Instead, it’s Alta who will be the surprise double-digit seed in Saturday’s semifinals after Northridge fell 10-25, 26-24, 25-22, 25-19.

“It’s always hard. It’s state, emotions are high, you never want it to end this way,” Northridge senior Bailee Tucker said. “I’m proud of how far we came. No one expected us to get as far as we did, graduating so many seniors, and I’m really excited for them next year.”

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

Had the Knights won, they would’ve been the third Region 5 semifinal representative as both Bountiful and Woods Cross advanced to the final four and will play against Alta and Maple Mountain, respectively, at 10 a.m. Saturday

Northridge faces No. 7 Skyline at 11:30 a.m. Friday in the consolation bracket, with the potential to play for fifth place at 1 p.m.

Along with facing a good Skyline team Friday, Northridge (12-11) will have to pick itself up mentally after a visibly frustrating loss.

“It’s honestly my favorite thing to see, who comes in on those consolation plays and who comes ready to win because it really shows what kind of athlete you are,” Tucker said.

The Knights have been streaky all season, mixing multi-match losing runs with multi-match winning runs. They came into the state tournament with three straight wins, won two tournament matches and nearly made it six straight victories.

Northridge played well Thursday at times and landed in what was by far the weakest quarter of the 5A tournament bracket.

In the morning match against No. 6 West Jordan, Northridge was tied 23-23 in the first set before winning the next two points to grab and some of the proverbial “momentum” coaches like to talk about.

A 25-15 and a 25-18 set later, and the Knights faced No. 14 Alta (who upset No. 3 Hunter) for a chance to get to Saturday’s semifinals.

“We were in a flow state. Our passing was on, our serving was on and it was just fun from there,” Tucker said.

The first set against Alta was possibly one of Northridge’s best all season. Leading 20-10, Tucker got two straight kills, the Hawks committed two straight errors and then Makayla Carrigan finished the set with a serve Alta couldn’t handle.

The Knights were in total control to start the second set, as points were almost always dictated by whether they’d put the ball down in Alta’s court or make an error.

At 15-8, things changed. The Hawks came back within 15-14 and, after tying the set at 22-all, won two straight points and eventually got the second set 26-24.

Northridge trailed 11-5 early in the third before making the set a seesaw affair.

Alta went up 22-20, then Northridge’s Lia Brown appeared to get a big hit before the head referee ruled a violation on the play and a point for the Hawks, which elicited a testy exchange between the referee and Northridge head coach Ali Garcia.

Alta’s Brooke Ridge hit through the Northridge block to clinch the third set for the Hawks.

Northridge found itself down 18-10 in the fourth before mounting a small comeback to get within 18-14.

“I think we had — our serving kind of fell off the table and it really got into our heads and then our passing, we had a few aces in a row or just a few really out-of-system balls that our setter just had to chase down and made her life really difficult and I think it just, what’s the word, just shook us,” Tucker said.

Passing and serving let the Knights down, then the referee called a violation on Northridge to give Alta a 21-15 lead, which elicited another verbal protest from Garcia, whom the referee showed a yellow card.

Garcia dismissed the Standard-Examiner’s attempt for a postgame comment.

Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.

Newsletter