Lone Peak girls volleyball players celebrate an ace serve in a 6A state second round match with Davis at the UCCU Center on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025.
After a slow start, the Pleasant Grove girls volleyball team is making itself comfortable in Class 5A.
The Vikings, a perennial power with with eight state titles (the last in 2019), finished as 6A runner-up last season but found itself moved to 5A in the last UHSAA realignment.
PG started the season 1-5 against a difficult schedule but has gone 18-4 since, including a 13-1 record in Region 7. On Wednesday at the state tournament, the Vikings swept two opponents to earn a spot in Thursday's semifinals.
"The one thing that I will say is we have a bunch of girls who have been here before," PG head coach Isa Takahashi said. "They were able to mentally and physically prepare and help the younger kids handle the stress of being here. There's a different pressure when it comes to state. There's this moment where really it's just another game. We're playing good volleyball. The girls are deciding to be a better team and get distractions out of the way."The No. 5 seed Vikings (19-9) won their 10th and 11th matches in a row on Wednesday, rolling past No. 12 Wasatch in a sweep (30-28, 25-18, 25-17) in the second round and No. 4 Maple Mountain 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-11) in the quarterfinals, both for the third time this season against their Region 7 foes.
The first time the Vikings and Golden Eagles met in Region 7 play, PG won in a reverse sweep. The second time, the Vikings won at home in four. In the quarterfinals, Pleasant Grove was in control the entire match.
The Vikings were especially impressive in the third set, pressing to a 12-1 lead after a kills from Lexi Brown and Taytum Nelson and cruising to the win.
"My girls were ready, because they knew that it was going to be tough," Takahashi said. "We came out and we executed. It's cool to see the leadership that we have, because they're the ones that are bringing it up and saying, 'Hey, we failed last year. So let's do this."
One area where Pleasant Grove has continued to grow is with sophomore setter Marley McCandless, who stepped into the formidable shoes of last year's All-State setter, Avrie Valgardson, who is playing at Salt Lake Community College this season.
Takahashi said McCandless will be one of the nation's top recruits.
"I'm lucky to have such a talented kid in that position," he said. "I'm just blessed to have a bunch of good kids with some depth, but they've all stepped up. They've learned and I'm grateful we're at a place where we can go compete."
McCandless has plenty of weapons at her disposal, including perhaps the best middle blocker tandem in the state (6-foot-6 Utah State commit Nelson and 6-2 Molly Mitchell) and a trio of outstanding pin hitters in junior Brown and seniors Addie Beck and Marli Vaea.
"We've really had good energy and we've been playing as a team," McCandless said. "It's been really positive on the court. That's helping us play together and our plays really well together. We're playing as hard as we can for every point."
Pleasant Grove will face top seed Woods Cross (28-1) in the semifinals at 10 a.m. on Thursday. The Wildcats swept the Vikings in a tournament on Sept. 5.
Woods Cross, its only loss a 3-2 decision to 6A No. 1 Skyridge back in September, swept No. 9 Spanish Fork 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 26-24) in Wednesday's quarterfinals.
5A Second Round
No. 9 Spanish Fork, No. 4 Maple Mountain and No. 5 Pleasant Grove all advanced to the quarterfinals with wins Wednesday morning.
The Dons handled No. 8 West Jordan 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 26-24), the Golden Eagles swept No. 20 Olympus (25-19, 25-14, 25-21) and the Vikings defeated Region 7 foe Wasatch for the third time this season 3-0 (30-28, 25-18, 25-17).