Sandpoint Serves Up Win Over Overmatched Cda

Prep volleyball

Laser surgery it wasn’t, but the Sandpoint High volleyball team didn’t have to be precise Thursday.

In the much-anticipated Border League match between Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene, the visiting Vikings were beaten twice in a manner of speaking.

The Bulldogs dissected the Vikings 15-7, 15-2 in 35 minutes, and CdA did a good job of beating itself, too.

Sandpoint raised its league record to 5-0, 17-1 overall. CdA fell to 4-2, 13-5.

The Vikings were expected to be the lone Border team capable of challenging the Bulldogs. Because the teams just play once in league, CdA’s hope for a rematch must wait until the regional tournament.

After a briefly tight scramble in the first game, Sandpoint didn’t allow CdA to mount any attack in the second game.

Sandpoint used the jump serve effectively, especially in the first game. Four of the Bulldogs five aces came off jump serves.

Junior Bulldog setter Rochelle Ruen finished with a season-high six jump-serve aces.

“That’s the best I’ve done this season,” Ruen said. “I’ve been working on it a lot and it’s starting to pay off finally.”

Three of Ruen’s aces came when the Bulldogs opened a 4-0 lead in the first game. Trailing 10-4, CdA scored three points to pull within 10-7. Sarah Biddle spurred the short rally with a kill and stuff block.

CdA didn’t score again. Megan Lippi’s jump-serve ace provided game point.

Things got worse for CdA in the second game. Sandpoint opened a 9-1 lead, and the Viks would score their second and final point on an ace by Megan Hull.

A kill by Kendrea Meyer and a final jump-serve ace by Ruen ended the match.

“We were really fired up because we knew this was going to be our biggest match in league,” Ruen said. “We came out ready to win and it showed.”

Meyer led Sandpoint with eight kills. Lippi and Emily Smith added four each.

“That was a nice, decisive contest,” Sandpoint coach Jeff Hurst said. “What I liked was we played super aggressive. We always play aggressive, but we were more aggressive.”

Hurst thought the uptempo play kept the Viks from getting into any rhythm.

“We’re just banging the ball,” Hurst said. “The work habits of the core of these kids is excellent. I attribute that to why they’re so aggressive.”

For CdA, the things that led to its poor play wasn’t difficult to identify.

“We didn’t serve receive well,” CdA coach Karla Mitchell said. “The frustration got to us in the second game. We got beat on serve receive and net (violation) calls.”

The Viks were called for six net or center-line violations.

“We haven’t completely grown,” Mitchell said. “Our confidence level isn’t where it needs to be to compete every night at that level.”

Also in the Border League, Moscow (5-0) tied Sandpoint for first place with a 3-1 win over visiting Cheney. Traci Sanchez scored the final six points of Moscow’s 15-7 comeback win in the first game, then served six consecutive points during a 15-6 third-game win… . Christa Stanford, Shannon McGrane and Lindsey Terry had eight kills apiece to guide Colville (3-2) to a 3-0 sweep at Lake City. Rachel Mogen of the Timberwolves (3-3) had nine kills and three blocks… . Cindy Holland had 11 kills, and Erin Murphy and Rhiannon Platt combined for 25 digs in Post Falls’ 3-0 win over Clarkston.

Kendra Maas had five kills and Taylor Cady added four blocks as visiting Bonners Ferry (4-3) defeated Kellogg 2-0 in the Intermountain League. Kellogg’s Amy Williams had six kills… . Angie Turner had 16 kills and Mary Lemm added 11 digs in Priest River’s 15-8, 6-15, 15-9 IML win over visiting Timberlake.

Clark Fork (14-0, 5-0) scored a 2-0 win at Kootenai in the North Star League. Monica Kraack had five digs for Kootenai, which lost the second game 15-9 after trailing 14-0.

Michelle Kelley had seven kills and four digs, and Kaela Moore added 26 assists in Lakeside’s 2-0 win over Falls Christian Academy at Post Falls.