‘Good’ Lake City conquers CdA
The Lake City High volleyball team is, admittedly, either very, very good or very, very bad.
There’s not much in between for the Timberwolves. Facing perhaps their most critical Inland Empire League match, they found the good vibes more often than the bad Thursday.
Lake City played well early and overcame some lulls thereafter to stop Coeur d’Alene 25-15, 18-25, 25-21, 25-21 in the first match played on the Vikings’ new floor at Elmer Jordan Court.
The victory allowed LC (11-5 overall, 8-2 league) to edge into first place by a half game over Sandpoint (12-4, 7-2), which was idle. More important, if the T-Wolves win their final two league matches next week – against Moscow and Lakeland, teams they beat in the first swing through conference – then they will play host to the 5A Region I tournament.
LC senior setter Caitlin Crimp had arguably her best match of the year. Not coincidentally, she took advantage of good passing to engineer a quick offense.
Crimp, who finished with a career-high 36 assists, doled the ball out equally between LC’s 3M attack – seniors Tabi Mabrey, Riki Moreland and Kaylen Meredith. Mabrey and Moreland finished with a team-high 15 kills apiece and Meredith added 10.
“We get into mental lapses at times where we miss a few points,” Crimp said, trying to explain those times that the T-Wolves are vulnerable. “But then once we get on a roll we’re hard to be stopped.”
Most of the time when Crimp put her foot on the accelerator, her teammates responded.
“Usually when we get the momentum we stick with it,” Crimp said. “This is one of our best (matches).”
It’s coming at the right time, too, with postseason just around the corner.
“She (Crimp) made really good choices and Tabi Mabrey made a heckuva appearance,” LC coach Jen Owen said. “That’s going to be the difference for us from here on out.”
Mabrey had four kills in the first game when LC broke from a 6-6 tie to build a 16-7 lead. Game point came on a back-row kill by Moreland.
LC followed the hot start up with several of its bad moments. Scrappy CdA (9-8, 6-4) opened an 18-10 lead before evening the match at a game each.
But the T-Wolves reasserted control in the third game. In the fourth, LC rallied from a 13-5 deficit, pulling within 17-16. Then the T-Wolves scored seven straight points, and the Vikings couldn’t recover.
Sophomore Kama Griffitts led CdA with 10 kills.
CdA coach Carly Curtis continues to see growth in her young team.
“We had a few mental errors at the end, but we’re young and we’re going to learn from those,” Curtis said. “I’m excited about (regionals). That’s when we need to perform.”