The Hillcrest Huskies earned their first region victory in 5A with a 3-1 win over Cyprus this season, and head coach Cassidy Adams is optimistic about her varsity volleyball team’s future.

“There are a couple of teams that will contend with us, West and West Jordan, for the region 4 title, so we're excited to have that competition,” Adams said. “I'm comfortable we can get out there and perform well against them.”

Despite an early 4-5 overall record, Adams said the challenging preseason schedule was intentional.

“The team is playing well,” she said. “I purposely put us in a tough schedule for preseason and they really leveled up against these bigger teams they aren't used to playing.”

The preseason helped build confidence and improve RPI rankings. The team hopes to host a first-round playoff game.

“Being in 5A this year is a different animal than it was last year. It's a higher level of competition,” she said.

Now in her third year coaching, Adams—a 2021 Hillcrest graduate—leads a team with nine seniors and experienced varsity returners.

“They all are experienced players and a great many of them are familiar with the varsity level of play. They’re composed; they bring experience the team,” she said, naming senior Eva Tagoa'i and junior Jane Thomas as captains.

“Overall, the team is well balanced. We have good defensive IQ and although we don't have the same kind of physically imposing offense that we have in the past, they're smart and they're skilled. They play with good ball control, they’re athletic and we have a couple of good, physical hitters,” she said, adding that they got good experience from the Utah Valley University varsity camp in July where they played 13 games in four days.

Team chemistry also has been a strength.

“In fact, the girls love to do carpool karaoke on the bus, they are singing all the time. They love to do harmonies. It cracks me up,” Adams said. “They'll stay after practice and hang out. They're close and bonded like that.”

Still, Adams says building on-court cohesion remains a focus.

“Skill wise, they’re strong and they’re comfortable with each other off the floor, but we’re always working toward being a cohesive team unit and being supportive on the floor. We want to translate their friendship onto the court,” she said.

That goal goes for all the teams.

“They’re super competitive and fun to watch because they are a skilled team,” she said of the JV team coached by Leandra Ashworth. “I can say the same about the freshmen on the freshmen team; they play together very well. The sophomore team had a couple of struggles, but they're working toward being a cohesive team too.”

The sophomores are coached by Rachel Jensen and freshmen by Hilary Adams.

“My assistant coaches—they're the best. We have the perfect mix of every kind of personality on our coaching staff and we all have our different roles, so we all get along well,” varsity coach Adams said.

The Huskies will compete in a tournament at Stansbury, with Judge Memorial and San Juan expected to be strong opponents.

“I'm confident if we show up at these games, we could win at each of them,” Adams said.

Region play concludes Oct. 21 versus Taylorsville. State playoffs begin in late October.

Hillcrest players also are active in mentoring younger athletes. Four seniors coach middle school teams, and others help run the youth league.

“We have 50 kids playing in our middle school league, with most of them being from Union and Midvale middle schools,” Adams said. 

The middle school season runs through mid-October with weekly games.

“I love giving back to the program,” Adams said. “It's fun to see the growth from when I was here when the program was in the gutter and the culture was not good to being able to turn it around to help them grow. It’s been incredible.”