Viks Hold Off Charging Lc
Punched out too early, punched in too late.
If volleyball matches were played to 14 points, the Coeur d’Alene Vikings would have made quick work of their intracity rivals Tuesday in an Inland Empire League match.
Instead, Coeur d’Alene had to fend off late rallies before prevailing by identical 15-12 scores before a spirited crowd of 400 at Viking Gym.
Lake City’s primary problem was it arrived too late - at least mentally if not figuratively. The Vikings’ late problem was they picked up their lunch pails and headed home before finishing the job.
Despite giving LC several opportunities to rally, CdA regrouped in time.
The league-leading Vikings (16-1 over-all, 5-0 in IEL) opened the match charged by a boisterous booster section. CdA used 6-0 and 7-0 spurts to build a 14-3 lead.
And in the second game, the Viks, spurred by 5-0 and 3-0 momentum swings, surged to 14 points again at 14-9.
“If we could have won at 14 life would have been good,” smiled Coeur d’Alene coach Karla Mitchell, whose team extended its winning streak to 10. “I think you have to give a lot of credit to Lake City. They don’t die. They have a lot of talent.”
The win gives CdA a sweep of the two-match league series against LC (8-7, 2-3). The Viks won at LC by a similar score nearly three weeks ago (15-13, 15-12).
“We waited for the games to be half over before we started to play,” LC coach Kent Scanlon said. “I think that about characterizes it. A team that’s playing as well as Coeur d’Alene … we just gave them an insurmountable lead.”
With setter Kimi Towery serving, CdA came within a point of running the Timberwolves off the court in Game 1.
An ace by Towery and two kills by Jessica Janke helped CdA extend an 8-3 lead to 14-3. It appeared the Viks would score game point as Janke dinked a ball when she probably should have taken a full swing. The off-stride hit sailed just wide.
LC fought off five game-point situations. A kill by Oliva Sementi was the final point of a 9-0 T-Wolf comeback. Kelly Stern stopped the spurt with a quick dink.
Alana Beck followed with a tough serve that the T-Wolves couldn’t return.
LC took a 7-6 lead in the second game on a kill by Missy Asher and a net violation. But CdA regained the lead for good at 8-7 when Beck’s kill was blocked out of bounds.
The T-Wolves closed within 14-12 on three CdA kills that sailed long. CdA scored match point on a net violation.
Middle blocker Angie Shirley led CdA with seven blocks and six kills. Janke added six kills and three aces.
Asher and Lindsay Herbert each had five kills for LC.
“We’ve got an experienced enough team that our mental mistakes should be minimal,” Scanlon said. “But kudos to (the Viks). They did what they had to do to beat us.”
Mitchell pointed to Towery’s low assist total (12) and felt her team was fortunate to hold off LC.
“It wasn’t our best (match),” she said. “We have to improve a lot if we’re going to continue to win.”
Also in the league, Janelle Ruen’s nine kills, 10 digs and six blocks led Post Falls (5-11, 1-5) to a 15-12, 10-15, 15-9 surprise over visiting Sandpoint (10-7, 3-2).
St. Maries (13-4, 7-0) scored the final eight points of the match to avoid Priest River’s upset bid during a 15-3, 13-15, 15-7 Intermountain League contest at PR.
The Lumberjacks led the second game 13-11, but the Spartans (7-10, 2-6) rallied to force a third. PR’s Jacey Vogrig had seven kills.
Amber Paulson’s five kills and two blocks helped Bonners Ferry (3-13, 3-5) to a 15-2, 15-10 IML win over visiting Lakeland (7-10, 2-4).
Rachel Downing added five kills and Sarah Walter five assists and two aces for BF. Cassie Beyer’s seven assists and four digs led the Hawks.
Harmony Hammons had six kills and served the final two points of the first game as Lakeside (5-13, 3-3) surprised visiting Clark Fork 16-14, 7-15, 15-11 in a North Star League match at Plummer.
Susie Moore had seven digs and served the final five points of the third game, which Lakeside had trailed 5-0. The first-place Wampus Cats (8-7, 6-1) scored the final eight points of the middle game.
Rachel Pommerening’s eight kills and four aces guided Wallace (13-8) to a 15-12, 13-15, 15-13 non-league win over visiting Falls Christian (4-10).
Meghann Jenkins had five aces and Kara Moate six blocks for FC.
Girls soccer
At Lewiston, Emily Styer’s shot with 1 minute left rolled off goalkeeper Brooke Cushman’s fingers and allowed visiting Moscow to tie the Bengals at 1 and make both third-place teams 7-3-3, 6-3-3.
Lewiston’s Alison Roberts scored at 66 minutes. Moscow also scored during the final minute of its last match.
Regular goalkeeper Rachel StormoGipson played forward and scored twice as visiting and league-leading Coeur d’Alene (12-4-1, 10-1-1) beat Bonners Ferry 9-1 in another North Idaho League match. Katrina Corbeill assisted on StormoGipson’s second goal and scored to open the second half. Sarah Klump scored for the Badgers (0-11-0).
Sandpoint (10-2-2, 9-2-2) stayed close to CdA in the standings by topping visiting Lake City (6-6-2, 5-5-2) 2-0.
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