Mead wins opener

Mead opened their defense of the Washington State 4A volleyball championship in dominating fashion at home Tuesday night, sweeping Shadle Park 25-16, 25-18, 25-10 on opening night for the Greater Spokane League.

Cassie Dobson hit .900 for the match on her way to nine kills for the Panthers. She also led Mead with 12 digs and an ace. Amy Herren set up Dobson and the rest of the team with 25 assists.

Lexi Bishop led the Highlanders with four kills, an ace and a block.

•Gonzaga Prep rebounded from a first game loss and eight consecutive hitting errors in the second game to defeat University 16-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-19 in a rematch of last year’s third-place match at state.

The Bullpups came from behind in each of the final three games, led by senior setter Liz Hardan’s 19 assists and two aces.

Jillian Wilson led U-Hi with 10 kills and 19 digs, while setter Kara Crisp added 24 assists and three aces.

Also in the GSL, Kayla Reilly had nine kills, seven digs and three blocks, and Central Valley used 29 aces to crush Clarkston 25-7, 25-9, 25-17 at CV. Samantha Kern served six of the Bears’ aces and added 24 assists … Arianne Jackson and Janae Forney each had eight-point service runs, and Ivy Bush had nine kills, six digs and six blocks to lead Lewis and Clark over host East Valley 25-16, 25-19, 25-7.

Kara Caparoso served eight aces in Ferris’ 25-18, 25-12, 25-13 home sweep of Cheney. … Lindsay Giampietri‘s 19 kills led the North Central defense in a 29-27, 25-22, 25-14 sweep at Rogers. … Mt. Spokane coasted to a 25-12, 25-19, 25-22 victory at West Valley. Mel Dossey led the Eagles in a losing effort with four kills, a pair of aces and four blocks.

Idaho preps

Brigitte Boucher’s net play and Danielle Jacobson’s service game kept Lakeland (1-1) within reach in its Inland Empire League volleyball opener against Coeur d’Alene, but the Vikings (1-0) still prevailed 14-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-19, 15-13 in Rathdrum, Idaho.

Boucher led the Hawks (1-1) with nine kills and five blocks, while Jacobson added six aces and 14 digs in the losing effort.

Also in IEL play, Paula Kastener had 12 aces, including nine in the first two games, and 28 digs to give Post Falls a 2-0 lead, but Lake City came back to win 19-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-10 in a five-game thriller at Lake City. … Moscow used a seven-point service run from Randy Nelsen in the first game and a six-point run from Sharlee Cummings in the second to dominate host Lewiston 25-17, 25-7, 15-15 and improve to 2-0 in league.

•Sometimes it takes a few breaks to avoid a loss to the reigning state champs.

Lake City got just that in Sandpoint. The Timberwolves scored on an own goal in the 65th minute to earn a 2-2 tie against the State 4A soccer champion Bulldogs in the first night of Inland Empire League action.

Senior forward Chase Lowther scored both goals for Sandpoint (4-0-1), the latter of which came from a Luke Schramm assist to put the Bulldogs ahead 2-1 in the 56th minute.

Michael Eggleston tied the match at 1 for Lake City in the final minute of the first half, the first goal Sandpoint has allowed this season.

In other IEL action, Jalon Eborall scored on a header from a Derek Davidson corner kick and added an assist as host Coeur d’Alene (1-1-2) earned a 5-1 victory over Post Falls (2-1).

•Coeur d’Alene used a relentless attack that resulted in five offsides calls in the first 10 minutes, 28 shots in the match and a 4-1 girls soccer victory at Post Falls in the Inland Empire League opener for both teams.