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Weber High libero Tesyn Stewart, right, receives a ball as teammate Macie Broadbent (20) looks on in a match Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Pleasant View.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Stadard-Examiner

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Weber High's girls volleyball team celebrates a point against Copper Hillls on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Pleasant View.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Stadard-Examiner

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Weber High's Tesyn Stewart prepares to serve against Copper Hills on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Pleasant View.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Stadard-Examiner

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Weber High's Scarlett Smith sets a ball in a match against Copper Hills on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Pleasant View.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Stadard-Examiner

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Weber High's Kambree Anderson (27) hits the ball near the block of Copper Hills player Paige Jensen (3) on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Pleasant View.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Stadard-Examiner

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Bench players for Weber High girls volleyball cheer during a match Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Pleasant View.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Stadard-Examiner

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Weber High girls volleyball players react to a call during a match against Copper Hills on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Pleasant View.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Stadard-Examiner

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Weber High's Scarlett Smith sets the ball on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Pleasant View.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Stadard-Examiner

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Weber High's Macie Broadbent, right, passes the volleyball as teammate Macey Montano (10) looks on in a match Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Pleasant View.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Stadard-Examiner

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PLEASANT VIEW — With only four seniors returning from a team that finished sixth in last year’s 6A state volleyball tournament — and just one week of practice — fifth-year Weber coach Renae Birch still had lofty expectations for her young squad in its season opener Tuesday against Copper Hills.

“We wanted to see where we were at. I thought we could win and I knew we could,” Birch said. “I wanted to get better throughout the match, which I think we did; challenge ourselves to be consistent.”

Mission accomplished, as Weber captured a 3-1 (25-14, 19-25, 25-22, 25-14) victory over the Grizzlies in a non-region encounter.

“This year we have six juniors, 11 sophomores and seven freshmen; on the varsity level, the youngest group I’ve coached. At practice I’ve been focusing a lot on our mentality because they’re new to the varsity level,” Birch said. “I’ve been challenging my seniors to stay calm, so either when they get down or it’s close at the end of a set, we can channel our sophomores to follow them and hopefully be successful.”

One of those seniors is 6-foot-1 middle blocker Sophia Sparrow, who tallied 12 kills, three blocks and hit .455 for the match.

“We’re a young team and the girls need our seniors to bring them up. We all did well staying calm and doing our job,” Sparrow said. “The younger girls see us as leaders; I think I swung well and blocked well. It brought up everyone’s energy; that was my goal in the game.”

Weber came out of the gates quickly, winning the first set 25-14 behind a nine-point serving run from libero Tesyn Stewart.

“If we win the serving battle, we’re looking good. We had a good first set, serving-wise. That set the tone and we were able to be aggressive on the service line and gain some confidence with a little buffer,” Birch said. “Let’s go out so our young ones can learn and hit hard.”

The Warriors hit a speed bump when they lost the second set 25-19, but the good news is Birch knew what needed to be fixed.

“We had a little drop in that second set where we missed a lot of serves. We weren’t putting ourselves in a position to score and got a little nervous. Just needed to swing big and play confident,” Birch said. “I think in the third and fourth sets we were able to stay at a level that we like and play at our pace and not worry about what’s happening on the other side.”

Sparrow had a nine-point service run of her own in the third set, overcoming a 13-11 deficit on the way to taking a tight 25-22 decision.

“My serving was good and we got a little streak going. We were down a bit, but serving is controllable and I did my job,” Sparrow said.

In a repeat of set one, the Warriors put the Grizzlies away with another 25-14 triumph, keyed by a 10-1 run mostly via the serves of Scarlett Smith.

“Beginning in the fourth set, our serving really picked up; we didn’t have any errors and had a lot of aces,” Birch said. “When you keep the ball in play, you’re going to score a lot of points. Serving is key to our game for sure.”

Smith dialed up 29 assists for the Warriors, Vivian Cruz had 19 digs and Stewart placed four aces.