Vikings sweep rival for state bid
The Coeur d’Alene High volleyball team was never in danger Tuesday.
But if the Vikings want to achieve the goal they set for state, they’ll have to play much better.
Coeur d’Alene captured the 5A Region I championship, stopping Lake City 25-17, 25-22, 25-22 before a crowd estimated at 600 at Elmer Jordan Court.
The Vikings (27-3) advance to state, Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Hillcrest High School in Idaho Falls.
CdA will meet the District III fourth-place team in a first-round match. That opponent won’t be determined until Thursday.
Lake City (11-19) travels to Lewiston (15-14) for a loser-out match Thursday. That winner will meet the District III fifth-place team in a play-in match for a state berth Saturday at Grangeville.
Lewiston topped Post Falls (11-18) in four sets in a loser-out match.
CdA was ahead comfortably at 21-10 in the third set before the Vikings started making some uncharacteristic errors. LC pulled within 24-22 before senior outside hitter Hanna Johnson swatted a deep kill for match point.
“Our goal is the (state) championship game and obviously (we want) to win it, but we’ve got to make sure we’re working on all cylinders,” CdA coach Carly Curtis said. “Tonight, I didn’t think we were there. We play like that at state, it’s not going to happen.”
Behind senior outside hitter Shelby Robb, CdA opened like it would make quick work of the Timberwolves.
The Vikings, ahead 11-8, pushed the lead to 21-14. Then Robb, who had three aces in the first set, finished with back-to-back aces to go with five kills in the opening game.
Things became much more difficult thereafter. LC broke from a 14-all tie in the second set to a 17-15 lead. But that’s when the T-Wolves’ offense sputtered. CdA, behind two aces by Lindsey Ritzheimer, reeled off four straight points to wrest control.
LC didn’t have enough to dig out of the 21-10 hole in the third set.
“We just made unfortunate errors at really unfortunate times,” LC coach Jen Kelly said. “Our role players really stepped up and did their job. The people we rely on, our leaders, really struggled.”
Johnson led CdA with 11 kills and 18 digs. Robb, whose jumping ability allows her to play taller than her listed 5-foot-6 height, had 10 to go with four aces.
“I was really ready, I was really focused and ready to put the ball down,” Robb said.
Curtis knew her team would be pushed against LC.
“We expected a battle,” Curtis said. “It took a little while to kind of get our ball control to where we wanted it to be.”
Senior libero Rose Brooks led LC with 20 digs.
•Lewiston stayed alive behind the all-around play of Savannah Blinn, who finished with 12 kills, four blocks and seven aces. The Bengals also got a match-high 17 kills from Rachel Fike.