Vikings catch fire to win regional title

The Coeur d’Alene Vikings ran the gamut of emotions Saturday at the 5A Region I volleyball tournament at Lake City High School.

Then they ran away with the title.

Things looked dire in the opening round for No. 2 Coeur d’Alene, which dropped its first two games to No. 3 Lewiston before rallying to a 21-25, 16-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-8 victory.

No more than 15 minutes later, the red-hot Vikings took the court against No. 1 Lake City – a team they had not beaten this season – and promptly swept the Timberwolves 25-18, 26-24, 26-24.

The win catapults CdA (19-7) to the 5A state tournament Oct. 27-28 at Burley High School.

Lake City (17-8) plays host to Lewiston (17-9) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a loser-out match that sends the winner to a play-in game in Grangeville on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. against the Boise area’s District III fifth-place team.

Lewiston stayed alive with a sweep of No. 4 Post Falls, 25-14, 25-17, 25-16 in a loser-out match that ran simultaneously to the title match on side-by-side courts. Earlier in the day, LC easily got past a game-but-ailing Post Falls team 25-13, 25-10, 25-23. PF finishes its season at 5-17.

Sophomore outside hitter Kama Griffitts, who pounded down the final two points in the decisive game of the championship match, said overcoming the adversity of the Lewiston contest ended up benefiting the Vikings.

“Our momentum was up, we had a good attitude and we were just looking forward to the next game and beating Lake City in three,” said Griffitts, who led the Vikings with 12 kills against Lewiston and nine against Lake City. “Surprisingly, we weren’t tired – we were all full of energy.

“I think it is (the best we’ve played all season).”

The Vikings seemed to be more motivated from the start against LC, jumping out to a 5-1 lead and stretching the margin to as many as six, at 17-11.

The Timberwolves rallied to within one, at 19-18, on a Kaylen Meredith kill, but miscommunication and sloppy play helped CdA run out the next six points.

The second game was tight throughout. With the game on the line at 24-23, the Vikings failed to put away a point that would have ended it. Senior outside hitter Tabitha Mabrey took advantage of the Vikings passivity and pounded out a kill that knotted the score at 24.

But Griffitts was there again with a big block to set up another game point and a hit off the Timberwolves’ block to finish it.

The third game featured 11 ties and five lead changes, none bigger than sophomore Shelby Robb’s ace that caught tape and trickled over to put the Vikings up 24-23. LC tied it up before Griffitts put it away with her back-to-back spikes.

Meredith led LC with 11 kills in the title match.

Vikings sophomore setter Natalie Stewart had 40 assists in the Lewiston match and 27 against Lake City.

“Our goal today was that no matter what happened, we were going to be the most positive people,” CdA coach Carly Curtis said. “We sat down in that Lewiston game and said, ‘OK guys, this is our opportunity that we want to take advantage of – we control our destiny.’

“And you know what? They pulled together as a team and said, ‘You know what? We’re going to do whatever it takes.’ And they did.”

LC coach Jen Owen was obviously disappointed in her team’s performance.

“We just never really got going on it,” Owen said. “We started slow and we stayed pretty slow and methodical – and then we played scared.

“Whenever you play tentative, it’s hard to put one foot in front of the other with confidence.”