LC wins, advances to state
It was a start that first-year Lake City High volleyball coach Jen Owen hadn’t seen this season. Her team’s play through the body of the 5A Region I championship match was something she hadn’t seen, either.
It all added up in the end, though, as the Timberwolves eventually cruised past Coeur d’Alene 14-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-18 to claim the regional title before a crowd estimated at 600 at Elmer Jordan Court.
Lake City (19-10) advances to state, which will be held next Friday and Saturday at Post Falls High School. The T-Wolves will open against District IV-V-VI runner-up Skyline of Idaho Falls (36-8).
Coeur d’Alene (11-14) can still earn a state berth. The Vikings will travel Saturday to Grangeville, where they will face Borah (17-19), the District III fifth-place team in a play-in match.
LC started sluggishly as CdA wrested control of the momentum early. The Vikings jumped out to a 6-0 lead and the game never got any closer.
The T-Wolves shook it off early in the second game, and the momentum switched sides. LC’s level of play eventually picked up as well.
“We couldn’t get anything going,” Owen said. “Our offense was off and our defense was horrible. We played with a lack of confidence and I haven’t seen that poor of a performance by us possibly ever.”
So Owen had a between-games chat.
“I just challenged their pride and reminded them of how hard they’ve worked,” Owen said.
Once the T-Wolves got untracked, they spread around the offense. Six hitters had five kills or more. Junior Tabitha Mabrey led with 10 kills and seniors Renee Bordelon and Lynn Hoppert added eight each.
“I think we were a little bit overexcited and not focused,” Bordelon said. “We really needed to take one rally at a time and one game at a time. She (Owen) said ‘I don’t want to go to (Grangeville) on Saturday.’ “
From the second game on, LC never trailed. In the second game, CdA pulled within 19-16, but the T-Wolves wouldn’t succumb.
In the third game, Rachel Moore got a kill through a double block to cut LC’s lead to 20-17. But the T-Wolves ran off the final five points.
In the final game, LC never gave CdA a chance, building a 15-4 lead as five hitters got involved. After a brief hiccup, the T-Wolves secured the match on a back-row kill from Riki Moreland.
“Our offense was amazing,” Owen said. “We shared the wealth. Coeur d’Alene did everything they could, but they couldn’t focus on one person. That’s what I’ve been waiting for us to do. That’s the most balanced we’ve been by far this year.”
Owen praised the play of senior libero Kelli Bridges, who had 18 digs. “They were perfect digs,” Owen said.
CdA coach Carly Curtis thought her team’s undoing was more because of its errors than anything LC mustered.
“I felt we were prepared and we knew what we needed to do,” Curtis said. “But for some reason we didn’t execute. I didn’t feel like Lake City did much to us. I really felt like we did it to ourselves with (poor) ball control.”
Liz Davis led CdA with nine kills and Moore had 11 blocks.
“Even though I’m frustrated at the moment, we’re going to learn from it,” Curtis said. “We’ve got to stay positive and regroup.”