KAYSVILLE — The Morgan High volleyball team has played only three matches so far this year, but one thing coach Liz Wiscombe says her team does well is battle.

That was evidenced Tuesday night as Morgan staved off Davis rallies in each of the first two sets to win before ambushing the Darts with an 11-2 run in the third set on its way to a sweep, 25-22, 25-21, 25-19.

“They’re fighters, and I like that,” Wiscombe said. “They’re fighters and they’re getting better and they’re used to playing together and they like each other. That means a lot. It’s a good team. I’m excited for the year.”

In the first set, Morgan jumped out to an 8-2 advantage and led for much of the set before Davis put together a 7-2 run to take a 22-21 lead, its first of the match. The Trojans then reeled off four straight points to close out the set, including a pair of aces by junior Kenna Buss and a kill by senior Gentry Criddle to seal it.

Davis jumped ahead 5-1 in the second set but Morgan recovered and eventually took a 19-17 lead. The Darts then tallied three straight points before the Trojans went on a 6-1 run to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.

“They’re getting better at giving the effort to close,” Wiscombe said. “We played at Salem Hills last week and we went five games, battled really hard and then the fifth game we didn’t come close to closing, so they’re getting it. They’re getting better at it.”

Davis took an 8-5 lead in the third set, compelling Wiscombe to call a timeout. It proved to be exactly what Morgan needed. The Trojans went on an 11-2 run to take a 16-10 lead and the Darts didn’t get closer than four the rest of the way.

“I was excited with the energy that we brought,” Wiscombe said. “The last game that we played we didn’t start really strong, but this game we started strong and maintained energy and played hard defensively the whole game. We’ve been working on blocking and probably still need some work on blocking, but it’s better. We’re getting more touches on the ball and we’re seeing the hitter better. It’s a work in progress, but I’m proud of these kids. They brought the energy and they played hard.”

Senior setter Emma Thurston highlighted Morgan’s chemistry as a source of strength this season.

“I think this year we just are a lot closer,” the fourth-year player said. “We have been in the past as well, but this year we have a really close connection with everyone and all the girls are super close.”

Davis coach McKay Barker would obviously have preferred a win but, all things considered, she couldn’t complain too much about how her team played.

“I think it was one of our best matches against one of the toughest teams we’ve played so far,” Barker said. “We’ve been improving every game that we’ve played and obviously there’s some things that we need to work on, but not too disappointed with how we played.”

Citing Morgan’s defensive toughness and ability to come back, Barker said she thought her team held up well against the Trojans’ standard, which she said it wanted to do but didn’t know it was capable of.

“I was really happy with how well we played on defense and kind of could keep up with them that way,” she said.

Davis, which took second last weekend in the Tooele Tournament, is now 5-3 this season. Morgan improved to 2-1.

Contact Standard-Examiner editor Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net.