Volleyball Powers Impress St. Maries, Lake City Join Cda In Season-Opening Matches

In the annual season-opening high school volleyball matches Tuesday involving St. Maries, Coeur d’Alene and Lake City, the results were predictable.

St. Maries held off Lake City in the first match (15-9, 10-15, 15-4) before breezing past youthful Coeur d’Alene (15-6, 15-5) at Viking Gym.

And the overall critiques of the coaches were similarly predictable. All three expressed, at the very least, satisfaction.

The opening match featured the teams favored to win their respective league championships.

Judging by early returns, it’s going to take outstanding teams to stop St. Maries and Lake City.

St. Maries will have to rely on all the ingredients save power at the net to capture the Intermountain League championship.

LC, meanwhile, appears to possess a balanced arsenal - power, athleticism, quick attack, serving, et al - to claim the Inland Empire League title.

Had LC opened the third game as it finished the second, the Timberwolves would have handed A-2 St. Maries a rare loss to an A-1 team.

After LC evened the match with a convincing 15-10 decision, St. Maries calmly rebounded to a 12-1 advantage in the final game before the T-Wolves briefly put up a challenge.

“They’ll be tough to beat as they always are,” LC coach Kent Scanlon said of the Lumberjacks. “But I don’t think they’re overwhelming. You have to give St. Maries credit for the strong start (in the third game). I think we woke them up.”

Following a 15-minute break, St. Maries made easy work of Coeur d’Alene’s Vikings, who lost three key players to graduation and started just one senior.

The Lumberjacks bolted to an 8-0 lead before a CdA timeout that only delayed the inevitable. Behind strong front-row play from freshman middle hitter Ariene Wilcott, St. Maries finished the first game in 15 minutes.

Although it was incidental, St. Maries was given a point early in the second game when Priest River transfer Krissi Ruiz got a kill for the Viks with St. Maries ahead 2-0.

The mistake wasn’t caught, though CdA pulled within 8-4 at one point when the scoreboard displayed 9-4.

St. Maries coach Mitch Santos, who is carrying just eight on varsity, didn’t single out one player. But Wilcott, senior middle hitter Bridgette O’Dwyer, outside hitter Kim Reid and setter Alicia Adams were particularly effective.

“For us to play that smooth and with that much poise early in the season, I thought it was great,” said Santos, who’s entering his 19th season. “That’s the No. 1 compliment I have for my team, the way we handled our errors (against LC). And we made lots of them - serving errors and serve-receive errors. But I thought they held their composure really, really well.”

Statistics were unavailable for St. Maries. LC was led by senior middle hitter Linday Herbert, who had eight kills and five stuff blocks. CdA transfer Kellie Stern added six kills and three blocks and Brianne Taylor had all four of her kills in final critical points of the second game.

“I thought Lake City’s Game 2 was awesome,” Santos said. “They ran some excellent quicks and shoots. They have the personnel to be that aggressive.”

CdA coach Karla Mitchell knows the year will likely be quite opposite of the Viks’ league title season a year ago. But she was all smiles afterward.

“Our goals are realistic,” Mitchell said. “We want to improve and be tough by the end of the season. They did all right (tonight).”

Vik sophomore Katie Jo Shirley had five blocks and four kills.

Post Falls lost the first two games then rallied for an 8-15, 10-15, 15-6, 15-13, 15-5 win over Lakeland.

Girls soccer

Freshmen Heidi Hedge and Megan Holmes played key roles as Lake City shut out Lewiston 5-0 in Coeur d’Alene.

Hedge had a goal and an assist while Holmes had a goal at the 43-minute mark to give Lake City a 4-0 halftime lead.

Katie Brunn had a goal and two assists. Lewiston picked up the pace the second half and the Timberwolves managed just Hedge’s goal at the 64-minute mark.

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