Lady Tigers still seeking first volleyball win

by Alvin Powers

Mountain Home News

They may be winless in four league volleyball matches, but not for long.

In fact, the Mountain Home Lady Tigers could very well have picked up their first win by the time you read this. But unlike last year, it will NOT be their final win of the season.

The Lady Tigers lost in three to a good Skyview team last week, and then almost took Bishop Kelly to five games before losing a close one at Bishop Kelly.

Skyview 25, 25, 25

Mountain Home 13, 13, 14

The Lady Tigers had their troubles against a very good Skyview team last Tuesday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium, losing in three games that were never that close.

A bright spot to the match was the addition of transfer Jordana Price, who showed a glimpse of her potential as an addition to the team. The transfer from Hillcrest of Idaho Falls had five kills and a couple service aces.

Ali Hillman had six kills, and Paula Barrientos had five assists and four service aces.

"It was a tough one" said Mountain Home Lady Tiger volleyball coach Heather Cherry after the match. "Skyview's good. They're really tough and have a lot of hitters. They place the ball very well, they pass the ball very well, they dump the ball very well, and we learned a lot from them tonight.

"We did a lot of really good things tonight. We have a new player that transferred in (Jordana Price), and she came in on Friday, so we've actually only had two practices with her.

"She's an excellent player. Our team is really excited about having her, so we've worked really hard to make that all work, but we've had three weeks of working with the girls we had, and it just takes some adjustments.

"I'm actually really proud of the things the girls have worked hard on. We've just got to keep working every day, and we're coming along."

Bishop Kelly 25, 24, 25, 29

Mountain Home 15, 26, 17, 27

The Lady Tigers gave Bishop Kelly all they wanted and more before losing in four. It marked the first time Mountain Home has won a game in a match, and they almost forced the Lady Knights to five games.

"It was a really, really good match," said Coach Cherry, "The level of intensity was so much higher than we've been playing, and the girls were working so hard and they -- you could just tell they had a desire to win.

"We made some errors toward the end that really slowed us down and took us out of our momentum. I really thought we were going to go five (games).

"The girls really played with heart. It was really pretty exciting."

Jordana Price led the Lady Tigers with 12 kills, six blocks and four service aces.

Ali Hillman had five kills and a block, Paula Doerr had three kills, Dani Dean had four kills and a block and Paula Barrientos had 15 assists and three blocks.

Saturday the Lady Tigers went to Twin Falls for the Twin Falls Invitational, one of 14 teams there. The format for the day is playing each team for 25 minutes, and the team ahead at the end of the time period wins.

Mountain Home picked up four wins, beating Homedale, Minico, Declo and conference foe, Emmett.

"Things went well there," said Coach Cherry of the Twin Falls tourney.

"We played a lot of ball and we did okay. I was able to put in a lot of different combinations, which was good.

"The girls got some valuable experience of working with each other, and we had some really good things happen.

"We're getting there. We had four wins there, which is three more than we had there last year, so we're getting there."

For the day, Paula Barrientos had 66 assists and eight kills. Jordana Price had 41 kills and seven blocks.

Ali Hiollman, who went down in the seventh game of the day with a twisted ankle, had 18 kills and one block. Dani Dean had 12 kills and four blocks. Erica Stanton had seven kills and three blocks, Stephanie Spagnolo five kills, Paula Doerr, three kills and a block, and Amanda Bitterman, two kills and a block.

The Lady Tigers hosted Caldwell at home last night, and host Vallivue at home tomorrow (Thursday) night, and go to the Wood River Invitational Tournament Friday and Saturday.