The top seed in the 6A state tournament, Skyridge, curbed No. 5 Syracuse in four sets in the semifinals Thursday at Utah Valley University. The Titans won the pair’s third set 25-16 to prevent a clean sweep, but the Falcons persevered to meet No. 2 Corner Canyon in Thursday night’s final.

On Wednesday, the Titans roared into the semifinals without burning a single set against No. 12 Riverton in the second round, or No. 4 Lone Peak in the quarterfinals. Syracuse bounced back after the semifinal with a three-set sweep of No. 3 Mountain Ridge in the third-place match.

Syracuse (24-8) achieved back-to-back region titles with former St. Mary’s College (California) outside hitter Megan Allred as the team’s head coach for a second season. Four seniors — captain Avery Eriksen, Isabella Rowe, Maddie Wheeler and Emily Kenison — were core to taking the mission higher in Year 2, Allred said.

“That was their goal, to make the top 4, so we’re just really proud of the work they’ve put in this season,” Allred said. “I think it just comes down to maturity. Last year, we had pretty much the same group of girls but I think the difference was they just needed that time to mature and get more comfortable with the big arena of Utah Valley and that kind of made the difference.”

In 5A, No. 3 Skyline took down No. 2 Fremont in four sets in Thursday’s first match, moving the Eagles to the final against top seed Woods Cross. Dropping the first set, Fremont swung back 26-24 in the next set only to drop the third set 25-12 and fall short again 25-21 in the fourth.

Fremont reached the semifinals by narrowly defeating No. 18 Brighton in five sets, and hanging a three-set sweep on region foe West Field, the No. 10 seed, in the quarterfinals in matches played Wednesday. The Silverwolves finished the tournament as the fourth-place squad in 5A after dropping the third-place match to No. 5 Pleasant Grove in three sets.

There was only so much gas left in the tank after a disappointing semifinal loss, fourth-year Silverwolves coach Analaine Mailoto said.

“They did well and I felt like we battled hard,” Mailoto said. “It was hard to lose, obviously, when we were so excited to play hard and move to the next round, and that made it hard to play the next match (vs. Pleasant Grove) with a hard match before and so much energy used. All four teams are so great and have good energy. It was an overall great experience.”

This fall, Mailoto led Fremont (28-4) to its first region title since 2020 with a perfect 12-0 record during the program’s first season realigned to Region 5.

Connect with reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.