The Corner Canyon High boys volleyball team went into the 6A state tournament with the No. 9 seed and ended up finishing in the top five, defeating Lone Peak 25-21, 27-29, 29-27 in a hard-fourth fifth-place game May 10 at Utah Valley University. 

Senior Cooper Varner had a double-double in the team’s final match against the Knights with 14 kills and 11 digs with junior setter Archer Burke running the Chargers offense with 32 assists. Defensively, sophomore Phillip Mayer had 13 digs on the back line and junior middle blocker recorded five blocks at the net.

“We had a great season,” said head coach Michael Burke. “Despite some early injuries to key players, we got the whole team together for the last few weeks of the season and went seven for nine, only losing to the eventual state champions twice [Bingham] and beating the 6A runner-up [Lehi].”

At the 6A state tournament, Corner Canyon beat eighth-seeded Davis 26-24, 25-20, 25-23 behind 17 kills from Varner, 36 assists from Archer Burke, nine digs from junior Nicholas Hellig and three blocks each from Mayer, Hellig and senior Porter Curtis. In the quarterfinals, the Chargers lost to Bingham 25-21, 25-19, 25-20 with junior Cooper Young’s 10 kills and Burke’s 24 assists leading the offense and senior Robert Muse’s nine digs and Curtis’ five blocks tops defensively.

In the consolation bracket, the CCHS squad defeated Herriman 25-21, 27-29, 29-27 to reach the fifth-place match against Lone Peak. Varner put away 11 kills, Burke recorded 26 assists, Muse had 13 digs and Young was big at the net with five blocks.

This season, Corner Canyon also defeated Alta, Pleasant Grove, Riverton, Farmington and Mountain View to begin play this spring. They also beat Sky View, Skyline, Brighton, Copper Hills (twice), Riverton, Orem, Herriman and Mountain Ridge this spring. The team’s other losses were to Syracuse, Orem, Herriman and Mountain Ridge.

Varner led the team this season with 346 kills while Mayer and Young had 119 and 114 kills, respectively. Burke’s 681 assists ran the offense while Mayer served up 38 aces. On defense, Mayer was tops with 148 digs, Muse added 147, Varner 135 and Burke 101 and Young and Burke combined for 134 blocks at the net.

Also on the CCHS team that went 16-8 overall and 6-4 in Region 2 were seniors Sam Allami and Tenuun Amgalanbayar; juniors Atticus Candell, Gavin Christensen, Logan Kelley and Phillip Nvaratil; sophomores Vance Alleman, Braxton Crawford, Miles Free and Max Lloyd; and freshmen Logan Dayton and Grant Page. λ