Pleasant Grove • Heather Gneiting says it’s starting to get better.
Thoughts about two straight narrow losses in the state championship match for Pleasant Grove, capping the 2015 and 2016 seasons with runner-up trophies, aren’t as frequent as they used to be.
“I think about it a lot. It used to be daily,” Gneiting said after a 12-kill performance against Skyridge. “Now it’s on my mind sometimes.”
Pleasant Grove fell to Lehi in the 2015 Class 5A finale then in a five-set thriller to Lone Peak last season. Gneiting is one of seven seniors in the Vikings’ regular rotation that aims to take Pleasant Grove to the promised land.
“That’s the plan, but we’ve got to work our way to get there,” Gneiting said.
Part of the process is finding opponents outside of region play that can test the powerhouse program.
Skyridge (2-1), ranked fourth in Class 5A, offered itself as a foe for the second-rated team in the new Class 6A.
PLEASANT GROVE 3, SKYRIDGE 0 <br>• BYU-recruit Heather Gneiting puts down a match-high 12 kills from the middle, which includes her swatting down a spike on match point. <br>• Skyridge’s biggest lead of the evening is 9-4 in the third set, which Pleasant Grove counters with an 8-1 run. <br>• The Vikings get six kills each from seniors Kazna Tarawhiti and Megan Sintay, while the visiting Falcons are paced by five kills apiece by Emilee Rupp and Kaitlyn Standifird.
But Pleasant Grove (2-0) had little trouble in dispatching the Falcons 25-15, 25-15, 25-18 on Tuesday night.
Besides Gneiting’s dozen putaways, the kills were spread evenly across the Vikings’ front line. Strong-side hitter Kazna Tarawhiti had six, 6-foot-4 opposite hitter Megan Sintay also had six, while sophomore Bryton Bishop added five.
Meanwhile, Gneiting was back in the middle hitter spot as the team works to find out where she should play on a regular basis. Gneiting was an outside hitter, just as she had been through much of the 2016 campaign, in a season-opening sweep against Brighton.
“I do whatever is best for the team, but I like middle. It’s always been my home position,” said the 6-4 Gneiting, who added that the team is trying to find a way to keep her there. “That’s what we’re thinking, but we’re just seeing what the best option is for us.”
Pleasant Grove coach Allyce Jones said: ”Our team chemistry is about building relationships, and I would say that this group is just as special as the last one.”
Although the visitors had slight advantages early in the first and second sets, Skyridge only enjoyed a lead beyond the first few points in the third set.
The Falcons, which had five kills each from Kaitlyn Standifird and Emilee Rupp, led 9-4 before Pleasant Grove ripped off an 8-1 run to regain command.
Two points in that stretch came off the serve of Alia Rasmussen, a junior who befuddled Skyridge with six aces in the match. Four of those came when she served for six straight points in the first set.
For the Falcons, who expect to contend in 5A at the state tournament, putting the Vikings on the schedule was a means to an end.
“We put PG in our lineup this year because, I think, to be the best you’ve got to play the best,” Skyridge coach Deanna Meyer said. “PG is that program, and it helps us to see what we need to do to be better.”
And Meyer’s initial thoughts about the lesson learned Tuesday?
“Being able to serve tougher,” Meyer said. “If we serve tougher then we stop that middle attack. They pass nails. They were able to run that middle.”