Volleyball Game Preview: Mountain Ridge Sentinels vs. Bingham Miners

Mountain Ridge is preparing for their first region matchup of the season on Thursday. They will be playing at home against the Bingham Miners at 6:30 p.m. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Mountain Ridge is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Utah's top teams: American Fork, who was ranked 16th at the time (Mountain Ridge was ranked sixth). Mountain Ridge came out on top against American Fork by a score of 3-1 on Tuesday. The win continues a trend for the Sentinels in their matchups with the Cavemen: they've now won six in a row.

While Mountain Ridge might've won, it sure wasn't easy: American Fork scored at least 18 points in every set they played. The match finished with set scores of 25-20, 25-18, 23-25, 26-24.

Meanwhile, Bingham can bid farewell to their three-game losing streak thanks to their game on Thursday. They blew past American Fork 3-0. That three set margin sets a new team best for the Miners this season.

The 3-0 score doesn't really reflect how close the match was: every set was decided by three points or less. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-22, 25-22, 27-25.

Mountain Ridge better focus on containing Spencer Smith and Seth Bushell as the pair were huge in Bingham's win. Smith had 23 digs and one assist, while Bushell had 17 assists. That's the most digs Smith has posted since back in April of 2024.

Mountain Ridge's victory bumped their record up to 8-1. As for Bingham, the win got them back to even at 3-3.

Mountain Ridge came out on top in a nail-biter against Bingham in their previous matchup last Saturday, sneaking past 2-1. Will Mountain Ridge repeat their success, or does Bingham have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.