ST. GEORGE — Boys volleyball has earned varsity status in 4A Region 9 and local teams are well into the first season at the net.

In Hurricane Friday night, the Tigers survived a lengthy first set then went on to sweep visiting Dixie 29-27, 25-18, 25-20.

Hurricane coach Brendon Holmes talked with St. George News about the buzz in the building now that boys volleyball is official.

“Yeah, everybody is excited,” Holmes said. “It’s really fun. We had a rough game against Pine View the other night where we lost pretty bad, but plenty of parents came up and said how fun it was to watch, how fun it was to see them play.”

Volleyball is such a game of ups and downs, he added.

“Even when you’re losing, if you make one good play, you feel on top of the world,” Holmes said. “So it’s a fun sport to play no matter who’s winning.”

Hurricane improved to 3-5 overall, 1-1 in region play.

Official statistics were unavailable. Hurricane got solid play from Cael Carter, who Holmes said is the Tigers’ only player who also plays for a club team.

“I was psyched,” Carter said when he found out volleyball would be a varsity boys sport. “I was like, I can’t wait for my friends to be able to play.”

The Tigers can rotate four fairly tall players along the front line in Carter, Benson Hicken, Marshal Stout, Joshua Swapp and Bridger Eves. Swapp and Stout were effective against Dixie, both blocking and hitting.

“Everybody on our varsity team (other than Carter) is a brand new player this year,” Holmes said. “We just looked for a lot of athleticism, tried to get some height in there.”

“A lot of these guys are very, very close to really being able to crush a ball night after night,” Holmes added. “And that’s what we’re excited about seeing.”

According to Maxpreps, Pine View currently leads Region 9 at 2-0 and is 7-2 overall.

Cedar is 2-2 and Desert Hills is off to an 0-5 start. Both have yet to play a Region 9 match.

Snow Canyon is 1-5, 0-1 and Dixie is still looking for its first win at 0-6, 0-1.

There are two Region 9 boys volleyball matches scheduled for Tuesday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m.: Hurricane at Crimson Cliffs and Pine View at Dixie.

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