High school girls volleyball: Bingham defeats Lone Peak in 5-set thriller

After losing to Lone Peak in the semifinals of the 6A girls volleyball tournament a year ago, Bingham returned the favor on Thursday night, coming from behind to clinch victory over the Knights in a 5-set thriller, 17-25, 25-22, 25-19, 19-25 and 15-12.

In an early season meeting between two dominant volleyball programs, the match had the feel of a semifinal playoff match.

“Anytime you walk into Lone Peak and go head-to-head with the 4-time defending state champions, you’re expecting the best team in the state. They have a beautiful tradition, great coaching, great athletes, and so for us to come in and pull that out in five was a spectacular thing for us,” said Bingham head coach Reed Carlson.

Lone Peak came out looking like the 4-time defending state champ it is. After falling behind 8-4 to start the opening set, Bingham struggled to catch up and looked to have no answers, with Lone Peak cruising from the outset and Bingham ultimately dropping the set 25-17.

“For some of the kids, that game against Lone Peak last year where they beat us in the semifinals might have been on their minds, but we have a lot of new faces,” Carlson said.

“The majority of the kids are new to the team this year so for them it was more of a proving moment, trying to say that they can compete at that level and do a good job. It’s the second match of the season for both us and Lone Peak, so there is a lot of growth to be had.”

After getting run over in the opening set, Bingham made some adjustments and seemed to be a lot more composed. The Miners limited the unforced errors that plagued them in the set prior, getting out to an early 4-1 advantage in the set. Lone Peak fought to get back in it but every time it looked like the Knights might go on a run, Bingham had an answer.

After winning the second set 25-22, the momentum continued for Bingham and carrier over to the third set. With the score tied 11-11 midway through the set, Bingham went on an 8-2 run, getting some much-needed breathing room and gaining a lead that would prove to be too much for Lone Peak to overcome.

The defending champs were not going to go down without a fight, grinding out an impressive 25-19 win in the fourth set and pushing the match to the brink.

It wasn’t pretty play from either team in the fifth and deciding set, with both squads missing service chances and making unnecessary errors.

Down 9-7, Bingham went on an 8-3 run to finish the match, thanks in large part to the play of Paige Ballif and Lexie Carlson.

“We want to believe that all of the hard work in the preseason has paid off,” Carlson said. “It was good to get into that fifth set and have them dig deep even though a lot of their legs were tired, but for them to come out on top and find the legs to take some of those big swings was huge.”