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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Idaho Falls battles back to beat Eagle for championship

Wendy Johnson never doubted. Neither did her Idaho Falls High volleyball team.

Not even after Eagle snapped Idaho Falls’ 43-match winning streak the night before in the State 5A tournament.

The Tigers of Idaho Falls bounced back to win five consecutive matches Saturday, forcing the if-necessary championship match and completing a threepeat with a 24-26, 25-13, 15-12 win over Eagle in The Arena at Post Falls High School.

In loser-out matches in the morning, Boise stopped Lake City 26-24, 25-21, 23-25, 25-15 and IF fought off Skyline 25-20, 25-21, 15-25, 15-25, 15-7.

Boise (20-8) finished fourth when IF eliminated the Braves 25-21, 25-22, 25-15.

Timberline (16-8) took third by falling to IF 25-10, 25-9, 26-24.

“IF played like it had been there before, and in the end the result was the same.

The Tigers (42-1) needed just 50 minutes to dispatch Eagle (32-7) 25-13, 25-14, 25-14 and force the if-necessary showdown.

The if-necessary match is three games, with the final game to 15.

After a 12-minute break before the rubber match between the 5A heavyweights, IF parlayed the momentum it had in the three-game sweep over the Mustangs to 6-0 and 10-1 leads.

But as if Eagle hit a switch, the Tigers’ momentum stopped. The Mustangs rallied to pull even at 12-12, and then the first game became a back-and-forth slugfest before Eagle prevailed.

Again, IF jumped out to a quick lead in the second game at 7-1. But this time the Tigers didn’t break down. Behind the athletic front row of Caitlyn Anderson, Danielle Killpack and Dana Christiansen, the Tigers pulled out to a 20-9 lead. Two aces by Samantha Miller and a kill by Anderson forced the third game.

The match followed a see-saw pattern in the final game until kills by Christiansen and Killpack secured the title.

“It’s fantastic,” Johnson said. “The emotion that’s tied into it for my seniors – who’ve done it for three times – is amazing. It’s just a tribute to how talented and mentally tough my players are.”

Killpack said the loss to Eagle on Friday inspired the Tigers.

“That just made us come out even stronger,” Killpack said. “It kind of kicked us in the butt and we got our momentum going. This is like the topping on the pie.”

“Lake City never sustained any offensive flow in the first two games against Boise, despite having opportunities.

LC (20-12) fought back in the third game after falling behind 9-6. The T-Wolves tied it at 10-10 and then surged ahead 18-12 behind junior middle hitter Riki Moreland, who had six of her 10 kills in the game. She played well on a tender left ankle she sprained Friday.

Boise pulled within 21-20 and appeared as if it would tie things up when LC senior setter Renee Bordelon made perhaps the defensive save of the game when she adjusted after preparing to attack and fisted a ball safely over the net that the Braves mishandled. LC’s game-deciding points to force a fourth game came on two kills by Moreland, an ace by Kaylen Meredith and a tip by Bordelon.

LC pulled even at 15-15 in the fourth, but that’s when the T-Wolves’ offense stalled as Boise scored 10 unanswered points.

“We had no spunk, no energy,” LC coach Jen Owen said. “We’d be OK for three or four plays, but then we’d let (Boise) rattle off series after series. We were always at the losing end of every rally and always behind two or three points.”

Bordelon led LC with 15 kills and three aces. Tabitha Mabrey added nine kills and eight digs and Kelli Bridges had 15 digs.

LC had difficulty against Boise’s tall middle hitters. The Braves’ 6-foot-2 Kristin Henning had a match-high 18 kills, and 6-4 Kelsie Clegg added 14 kills and eight blocks.

Owen, in her first year as head coach, said her team’s seasonlong streakiness was evident at state. LC will return seven players, including four starters. So the T-Wolves are likely to return to state for a seventh consecutive year.

“This year everything was new; now next year we’ll have a foundation,” Owen said. “It’s a foundation that has a great structure that we can build on. Every one of my kids will play in the off-season.”