Tigers end streak

Court was in session Tuesday night.

That’s when perennial volleyball rivals Mead and Lewis and Clark met for their annual Greater Spokane League showdown for regular-season supremacy.

That’s also when the visiting LC Tigers (6-0) made their case and earned the verdict they were after with a three-set sweep over the five-time defending State 4A champion Panthers (4-1).

“It feels really good,” LC coach Julie Yearout said.

That comes as no surprise, though, considering LC has finished second in state the last two seasons, behind Mead.

Earlier this season in a non-league contest, the Panthers edged the Tigers in a five-set marathon match.

“It took a lot of work, a lot of long practices and everyone being focused, but once we got conditioned and looked at the preseason game, we knew what we had to work on,” LC senior Oceana Bush said. “We had a common goal coming in here, and we succeeded, for sure.”

Bush collected 11 kills and a match-high 18 digs and senior middle blocker Chloe Rowand finished with nine kills and nine digs to help pace the Tigers in the packed Mead gymnasium.

The loss snapped Mead’s 39-match winning streak in regular-season play, dating back to 2004 when Mead lost the regular-season title to University. The Panthers bounced back that year, though, and went on to win the district, regional and state tournaments.

“We didn’t play well as a team,” said Mead junior Alexis Olgard, who finished with 15 kills, 13 digs, seven blocks and three aces. “We didn’t come out ready to play. We came out lazy and we can’t do that against LC. We didn’t have a good practice on Monday and we thought we could do better today, but we didn’t and it showed.”

In the opening set, LC and Mead stayed even – briefly – until the score was knotted at 5-all. That’s when LC junior Allyson Hanson served the Tigers on a 9-0 run.

During the scoring spree, 5-foot-9 senior setter Hilary Koenigs and 5-11 junior middle blocker Janele Vogt teamed up for four stuff blocks, including one to give LC a 13-5 lead before Koenigs dumped the final point of the run.

Down 19-9, the Panthers made a push and scored five straight points behind sophomore Kaely Kight’s serving and two stuff blocks from Olgard. The Tigers picked up two more points before Mead’s Madison Dahlstrom – who finished with seven kills, nine digs and two blocks – served four points. But Emily Clary and Bush each came up with timely kills and the Tigers went on to win the opening set 25-18.

After winning the second set 25-19, the teams played to a 13-all tie in the third and final game.

Dahlstrom led the Panthers on a 5-0 run and eventually Mead worked its way to a 24-20 lead and had its first game point of the night. Mariah Westlake served five straight points, though, and the Tigers knotted the score at 25. Rowand came up with a kill to give LC match point and Bush nailed a cross-court shot to give LC the victory.

“They just were not going to lose that,” Yearout said of her Tigers’ comeback performance in the final set.

In other GSL matches, Central Valley (3-2) defeated district rival University (3-3) 25-23, 25-20, 25-13 at home for its third straight triumph to be part of a six-team logjam behind the league leaders. CV’s Shannon Guisti had 26 assists, and Kyona Hunt added 10 digs and four aces. Chenise Pakootas had 11 kills for the Titans. … Gonzaga Prep (3-2) topped visiting Ferris (0-5) 25-7, 25-19, 25-16. Morgan Nitta had 21 assists, four blocks and five aces for G-Prep, and Sarah Sicilia added 10 digs. … On the road, third-place East Valley (4-2) topped fellow 3A team North Central (0-6) 25-19, 25-15, 25-13. Allie Riggin led EV with 18 kills, while Kirsten Kelly added 18 digs and Kelsey Kurtz had 19 assists. Kaitlen Kelly had 10 assists for NC … Shadle Park (4-2), remained tied with the Knights by sweeping at Rogers (0-5) 25-9, 25-8, 25-13. Shadle’s Lindsay Niemeier had 21 assists and eight digs.