Lady Tigers have a rough week

It was a rough and very busy week of volleyball for the Mountain Home Lady Tigers last week, as they dropped conference matches to Bishop Kelly, Kuna and Middleton, and then competed at the Twin Falls Invitational on Saturday.

Bishop Kelly 25, 25, 17, 25

Lady Tigers 8, 17, 25, 21

A slow start hurt the Mountain Home Lady Tigers last Tuesday night at Bishop Kelly, as they never were able to get into a good game flow.

Bishop Kelly took game one easily, 25-8, and won game two, 25-17. The Lady Tigers battled back to take game three, 25-17, and battled tough in the fourth game, before losing, 21-25.

"We started out really slow with our heads not in the game," said Mountain Home head volleyball coach Sarah DeVore.

"We turned it around in that third game and won it, and had our moments where we were kind of hanging with them in the fourth game, but we never really had our overall game going."

Dani Dean had nine kills for the Lady Tigers. Brandie Riggs led in assists with 13.

Middleton 25, 25, 25

Lady Tigers 7, 20, 22

It was another slow start for the Lady Tigers as they took on Middleton at Kuna Thursday night.

After dropping the first game, 7-25, Mountain Home faired better, but came up short, 20-25, and 22-25, to lose to the Lady Vikings 3-0.

Brandie Riggs had 11 assists against Middleton. Dani Dean had seven kills and three blocks, and Katie Price and Maggie Peterson both went five-for-five in serving.

"We had a very slow start right off the bat," said Coach DeVore of the Middleton match.

"Middleton is a good team, but one that we should have competed with a bit better. We started to regroup and gain momentum in the second and third games, but just getting off to such a slow start really set us back."

Kuna 21, 30, 20, 27, 15

Lady Tigers 25, 28, 25, 25, 11

The Lady Tigers also faced Kuna last Thursday night at Kuna, and battled the Lady Kavemen tough before losing in five games.

Mountain Home took the first game, 25-21, but fell short in a marathon second game, 28-30. The Lady Tigers won the third game, 25-20, battled tough in the fourth, but lost, 25-27, setting up the fifth and deciding game, coming up short in another hard-fought one, 11-15.

"Kuna's a great team and they're 6-0 right now, and I would have to say our effort against Kuna is our best match of the season so far, and it's unfortunate not to come out with a win in that one," said Coach DeVore.

"But this team is learning how to push for these games, and compete with the top teams. We just need to get mentally tough and finish these games."

Brandie Riggs had a career high 44 assists in the five-game match, and made good on 27 of 30 serves. Dani Dean had a career high 27 kills and had 10 digs and made 16 of 17 serves. Chantell Crane had a career high 13 kills, Ashley Kipp had six kills and six digs, and made 13 of 15 serves. Katie Price hit 18 of 21 serves.

Saturday the Lady Tigers made the long bus trip to Twin Falls for the Twin Falls Invitational, where they faced 13 opponents, besting just one of their opponents (Filer) in the special game format.

"Certainly, I know these girls are a much more talented team than that tournament showed," said Coach DeVore. "We really did dig ourselves a hole early on, and really more mentally than skill-wise, but once we did that, it was really tough to overcome that mental hole that we dug.

"Hopefully, these really were learning experiences for the girls, when you go from one of their best matches of the season to having a really rough go on it a couple days later."

The Lady Tigers return to conference action tomorrow (Thursday) night, hosting Columbia of Nampa.

"They're a new team and new to the conference and have been struggling a little bit," said Coach DeVore. "Hopefully, this will give us some momentum back. After Saturday's tournament, I know the girls were a little fired up, so hopefully, they come out this week and practice hard and gain some momentum against Columbia."

Sophomore action starts the evening off at 5 p.m., with JV and varsity action to follow.