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Orem • Maybe in another year, Salem Hills.

That may have been the Woods Cross volleyball team's fleeting thought after defeating its more youthful foes early Thursday afternoon.

But now the Wildcats will turn their attention to the Class 4A state semifinals after first surviving a major scare in the opening round of the state volleyball tournament then turning back a talented but young Salem Hills squad in the quarterfinals.

Woods Cross beat Salem Hills 26-24, 25-19, 22-25, 25-14 in its second match of the day at the UCCU Center at Utah Valley University. The Region 6 champion Wildcats had to survive Box Elder 25-22, 19-25, 25-15, 22-25, 15-12 in a first-round match.

"We got over it, pulled ourselves together and got through it," Woods Cross senior setter Bryli Knell said. "We knew it was going to be hard and that everybody's going to be ready at state, but we stuck together and knew that, if we played as a team, we could do it."

Salem Hills pushed the quarterfinal match into a fourth set by taking control of the third with a 9-2 stretch in the middle of that set.

But it was Woods Cross that jumped to a 7-1 lead in the fourth set — with the scoring of outside hitter Lacey McEwan leading the way — and the Wildcats never were threatened. The last six points of the set went Woods Cross' way behind points at the net from McKenzie Bird and Jessica Jensen.

"We're kind of new to it all, and it's always nice to come in as an underdog and win," Salem Hills coach Kathy Treanor said. "But they did have a more experienced group. We are young, and particularly in our key positions we're young, but I think we put up a really good fight."

Woods Cross will play defending state champion Sky View in the semifinal round Saturday.

The Bobcats rolled Mountain View 25-19, 25-18, 25-15 in their first match before disposing of Springville 25-20, 25-19, 25-14 in the quarterfinal round.

"We will take the wins," Sky View coach Malayna Knowles said. "We're happy to have them. At the start of the day, a lot of these girls had been on the bench [in past seasons]. They practiced with last year's group, and I hadn't realized how nervous they were going to be being on the court.

"We definitely had some first-day jitters and some things to work through." —

Class 4A state tournament

Saturday at Utah Valley University's UCCU Center

Semifinals

10:30 a.m. • Sky View vs. Woods Cross

12:30 p.m. • Mountain Crest vs. Timpview

Title match

5:30 p.m. • Semifinal winners