Head Coach Kendra Tomsic
Assistant Coach Kathy Howa
Assistant Coach Lauren Carpenter

Eighteen talented, excited, enthusiastic athletes walked into the Den on August 5 to begin our journey together through the 2024 volleyball season … and what an awesome trip it was!

This year’s team was led by senior captains Eva Aguilo, Gemma Ciriello, and Lulu Murphy. They were joined by fellow seniors Bb Earl Comeros, Emma Hare, and Rebecca Miles; junior Greta Filippone; sophomores Shaler Anderson, Lila Bates, Meredith Maloy, Hayden Thompson, and Chloe Vezina; ninth graders Nina Anderson, Morgan Ashby, Mina Bailey, Kailani Nguyen, Ella Wang, and Nyki Younten; and team manager, sophomore Lowe Palmer. This fun-loving group came to practice each day and worked hard together, with a mindset to improve. They knew they would sometimes fail, but they had a determination and desire to learn and grow from mistakes, to get better as individuals so our team would get stronger, and to keep an element of fun going at all times. That mentality paid off as they carved out a very successful season.

Following a preseason schedule that included decisive varsity victories over 3A schools Judge Memorial and Providence Hall, and 2A schools Millard and West Valley APA, and with a nail biting five-set loss to ICS, the team was prepared to start region play in mid-September.

League play in Region 17 brought with it much success for our teams at both levels of play. The junior varsity team posted an 8-4 record and showed amazing improvement from the start of the season to their exciting, five-set final match at St. Joe. Varsity also ended the league season at 8-4 (third in Region 17) and 19-9 overall for the entire regular season. Varsity highlights included two dominating region wins over archrival Waterford for the first time in several years, both in straight sets, as well as three-set victories over Maeser Prep, ALA, and American Heritage; exciting matches with Draper APA and St. Joe, which featured long rallies; and a strong showing at both the Wendover Tournament and the 1A/2A Clash Tourney in Richfield.

Our “pink night” Swing for Life breast cancer fundraising match in mid-October was a huge success, as our team and those who came out to support the game that night helped us raise over $2,000 for breast cancer research at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Our final overall record for the regular season earned us an 11th place seed in the 2A RPI standings, of 27 total teams—an amazing finish! This seeding set us up to host the first round of the state 2A tournament, a match that pitted us against a strong Beaver High team, some amazing volleyball rallies, and outstanding play by our Winged Lions. Though they gave their all and played with heart, grit, and a never-say-die attitude at every point, they were defeated in four nail-biting sets (27-25, 19-25, 21-25, and 20-25), a heartbreaking loss that ended our 2024 season.

Thanks to my coaching staff, Kathy Howa and Lauren Carpenter, whose support of the team and me was invaluable. A special shout-out to our six senior players, Eva Aguilo, Gemma Ciriello, Bb Earl Comeros, Emma Hare, Rebecca Miles, and Lulu Murphy, who anchored the varsity team this year and whose talent on the court and leadership by example was key to the success we had not only this year, but in the three prior years. They will be much missed!

End-of-season awards went to libero Lulu Murphy, MVP and Most Valuable Defender; middle blocker Rebecca Miles, Coaches’ Award; outside hitter Meredith Maloy and setters Greta Filippone and Chloe Vezina, Offensive MVPs; Nina Anderson, Rookie of the Year; Mina Bailey, Most Improved; and Emma Hare, Heart of a Lion Award.

Postseason recognition thus far has gone to Meredith Maloy and Lulu Murphy, who have been selected to the All-Region 17 team. The Deseret News has not yet released its All-State teams for 2024, though we are hopeful that some of our players will be chosen. Senior Rebecca Miles earned Academic All-Region 17 honors and was one of only sixteen 2A volleyball athletes to be recognized with the prestigious Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) Academic All-State award. Congratulations to these players!

We are also thrilled and proud to share that Lulu Murphy, our libero for the past two seasons, posted 685 digs in 2023 and 769 digs in 2024, earning for her, for both years, the honor of being #1 in this category in Utah high schools and across all classifications (1A–6A). It also currently places her at #32 in the national rankings in this stat category! Congratulations to Lulu on her unselfish, stellar, and incredible back row play as a Winged Lion. She’s in a very elite club with over 1,000 digs to her credit—and in the span of only two seasons!

Thank you to our student and faculty fans, and especially to our loyal parents as well as Director of Athletics Zack Alvidrez, for their support—it made a difference! A huge congratulations to our entire team on an exciting, laughter- and fun-filled, very successful 2024 season. You are a wonderful group of athletes who competed with the heart of a lion in every contest, were the highlight of my every day, and will always be #1 in my book.

Fall 2024 Team Members:
Eva Aguilo
Nina Anderson
Shaler Anderson
Morgan Ashby
Mina Bailey
Lila Bates
Gemma Ciriello
Bb Earl Comeros
Greta Filippone
Emma Hare
Meredith Maloy
Rebecca Miles
Lulu Murphy
Kailani Nguyen
Lowe Palmer
Hayden Thompson
Chloe Vezina
Ella Wang
Nyki Younten