Wallace, Clark Fork Earn Trips To State

The Wallace and Clark Fork high school volleyball teams earned berths to state Saturday while Coeur d’Alene’s bid to be a playing host at state fell short.

Coeur d’Alene fell to Nampa 16-14, 15-6 in an A-1 playoff at Riggins. The Vikings finish the season 19-21.

The Viks led 14-13 in the first game, but the Bulldogs were able to side out. Nampa then closed out the game with serves CdA was unable to return.

The second game was tight until Nampa used two aces to spark a final run.

The state tourney begins a two-day run Friday morning at Lake City High School. The state field was set Saturday.

In opening-round matches, Hillcrest of Idaho Falls takes on Centennial, Boise meets Nampa, Twin Falls goes against Capital of Boise and defending champion Sandpoint takes on Bonneville of Idaho Falls at 2:30 p.m.

At Moscow, defending State A-3 champion Wallace (19-6) fought back from a cold start to knock off Lapwai 4-15, 16-14, 15-11.

“We were worried about making mistakes rather than loosening up and playing like we should,” Wallace coach Dick Schreiber said. “In the second game, we started passing better and worked our attack.”

Leading the attack were seniors Joy Sperry and Dana Streeter.

Wallace broke from a 14-all tie in the second game to force a third. In the final game, Wallace took a 9-7 lead and controlled the momentum thereafter.

Sperry finished with 20 kills and four stuff blocks and Streeter added 12 kills and three stuff blocks. Sophomore setter Toya Bailey hit on 15 of 15 serves and had two aces.

The state tournament will be held Friday and Saturday at College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls. Wallace opens against 1993 state champion Filer (16-5) at 12:30 p.m. PDT.

In other state openers, West Side takes on Melba (the other match in Wallace’s bracket), Fruitland meets Ririe and Prairie meets Firth.

At Kootenai in Harrison, co-North Star League champions Clark Fork and Falls Christian met three times Saturday before the Wampus Cats prevailed in the A-4 District I Tournament.

Clark Fork fell to defending district champion FCA in the semifinal match 15-12, 8-15, 15-8. After eliminating Mullan (15-6, 15-11), the Wampus Cats bounced back to beat FCA 15-6, 15-8 and forced an if-necessary title match.

In the final, Clark Fork rallied 14-16, 15-8, 15-8 capture its eighth district title in 11 years.

“All the games were really hard fought,” CF coach Sandy Ross said.

Angie Ponack led Clark Fork with 11 kills, while teammates Hailey Scofield, Sasha Storaasli and Donella Pratt added seven kills each.

In earlier matches, FCA (15-13) downed Lakeside 15-4, 15-13; Clark Fork beat Mullan (10-13) 15-5, 15-11; and Mullan eliminated Lakeside (3-20) 13-15, 15-6, 15-4.

The state tournament will be Friday and Saturday at College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls. Clark Fork (19-8) will open against Nampa Christian, state runner-up last year, at 2 p.m. PDT.

In other state openers, defending champion Cambridge meets Hagerman, Oakley takes on Troy and North Gem goes against Shoshone.

NSL coaches named their all-league team. Named to the team were: Scofield and Pratt of Clark Fork, Katie and Kristina Elwood of Mullan, Audrey Wallace and Sarah Peterson of FCA, Harmony Hammons and Jennifer Niebuhr of Lakeside and Christy Raivio and Natalie Damiano of Kootenai.

State A-1 soccer

The Lake City boys rebounded after a pair of 1-0 shootout losses Friday to capture fifth with a 3-2 victory over Centennial in a shootout Saturday.

The Sandpoint girls, meanwhile, fell to Bishop Kelly 2-0 in a match for third place in the tournaments in Boise.

LC fell behind 2-0 in the first half, but rallied to tie on two goals by Scott Blodgett to send the match to overtime.

Neither team scored in the two overtimes, requiring a shootout. LC scored four to Centennial’s two in the shootout.

The match took 3 hours. It was delayed nearly a half hour when LC forward Will Scott went up to head a ball and collided heads with a Centennial player. Scott was taken to a Boise hospital and was to be kept overnight for observation.

Bishop Kelly and Sandpoint played to a 0-0 score at intermission. BK got two goals in the second half, one coming on a penalty kick.

In the boys’ championship match, Meridian defeated Idaho Falls 3-0 (LC fell to undefeated Meridian 1-0 in a shootout Friday).

In the girls’ championship match, Boise defeated Skyline 5-1.

, DataTimes