Lady Tigers fall one match short of state

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Oh so close! The Mountain Home Lady Tigers battled back from a District III 4A Volleyball Tournament opening loss to Kuna to end Nampa and Bishop Kelly's season, and almost beat Emmett for third, but the Lady Huskies prevailed to take third place, and keep the Lady Tigers from qualifying for this week's State 4A Tournament in Buhl.

Kuna 25, 25, 25

Mtn. Home 14,14, 15

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers went into the District III 4A Volleyball Tournament seeded sixth, and opened against third seeded Kuna at Kuna last Monday.

Mountain Home scored the first point of the first game, but then watched Kuna score 14 straight points before they scored again. They played them even the rest of the game, but the damage was done, and they lost, 14-25.

They fell behind early in game two, and never mounted any kind of challenge, losing again, 14-25.

In the third game, Mountain Home managed to tie the game at 3-3, but Kuna took off and won the game 25-15, and the match, 3-0.

"That's definitely not the way we had intended to come out and start the tourney," said Mountain Home Lady Tiger volleyball coach Sarah DeVore after the match.

"We worked really hard in practice gearing up for this game (match), but obviously, when you start out the game and give up 14 points on one rotation, we're not doing something right. I certainly thought we had a great shot at Kuna, but a lot of unforced errors led to that loss."

Dani Dean led the Lady Tigers with six kills and two blocks. Ashley Kipp had six service points on 8 of 10 serving.

Mtn. Home 25, 19, 25, 22, 15

Nampa 17, 25, 14, 25, 9

After losing to Kuna Monday night, the Lady Tigers hosted Nampa in a loser-out match on Tuesday night. The match went the full five games, but Mountain Home prevailed, 3-2.

Mountain Home led all the way in game one, gradually building the lead to a 25-17 final.

The Lady Tigers rolled to a 5-0 lead in game two, but Nampa battled back to tie the game at 6-6. Mountain Home regained the lead, with ties at 9-9, 10-10, 13-13, and 16-16, but Nampa then outscored the Lady Tigers, 9-3, the rest of the way to win 25-19.

Mountain Home had a 7-0 run that put them up 7-1 in game three, and it was a lead they would not lose, as they breezed 25-14.

The Lady Tigers trailed early in game four, but battled back to go up 20-15. Nampa battled back, outscoring the Lady Tigers, 10-2, to claim game four, 25-22, and force a fifth and deciding game to 15.

Except for a 2-2 tie, Mountain Home led all the way in game five, and outscored the Lady Bulldogs, 15-9 to claim the game and the match.

"This team knows when to fight, it's just a matter of when and where, and tonight was certainly that case where we showed up ready to play," said Coach DeVore. "Nampa gave us a good run, obviously, going five. It was an intense game, but the ladies finished strong."

Dani Dean was good on 25 of 26 serves against Nampa, had 18 service points and three aces, 26 kills, two blocks and six digs.

Brandie Riggs had 30 assists, Maggie Peterson was good on 21 of 22 serves for 13 service points and five aces, Chantell Crane had six kills and three blocks, and Sammy Dodge had 11 service points, two aces, five kills and three blocks.

Mtn. Home 14, 25, 25, 26

Bishop Kelly 25, 20, 21, 24

Mountain Home then faced Bishop Kelly, the number five seed, last Wednesday night at Columbia High School. Bishop Kelly had opened the tourney with a win over Middleton, before losing to top-seeded Skyview.

The Lady Tigers started slow and trailed all the way in the first game, losing 14-25.

Game two saw the Lady Tigers grab the lead early, and after an 8-8 tie, gradually moved out to a lead, winning, 25-20.

The third game was close, with Bishop Kelly leading most of the way until Mountain Home shot out from a 17-17 tie to take the lead for good, winning 25-21.

Mountain Home trailed in the fourth game until they went up 20-19, for their first lead, but the Lady Knights fought back to go up 23-21. The Lady Tigers caught them at 23-23, but fell back, 23-24, but then scored the final three points to win the game, 26-24, and the match, 3-1.

"Oh, my gosh! That was the most fight I've ever seen in a team!" said Coach DeVore after the match. "One thing we've worked on all season long is having that desire, and they definitely had it tonight. BK's a great team and we had our backs against the wall a few times and they fought right out of it."

Dani Dean hit all 19 of her serves, had 11 service points, four aces, 22 kills and two blocks. Sammy Dodge hit 17 of 20 serves for 12 service points, three aces, nine kills, two blocks and three digs. Chantell Crane had eight kills and two blocks.

Emmett 26, 26, 26

Mtn. Home 24, 24, 24

The Bishop Kelly win kept Mountain Home's hopes alive for third place a state tourney berth, and put them in the third-place match against Emmett on Thursday at Columbia.

Emmett, the number two seed, had opened with a win over Nampa, before being upset by Kuna. They were coming off a win over Middleton to make it to the third place match.

The first game went back and fourth, with eight ties. Mountain Home led early, but lost the lead, and trailed anywhere from one to three points, before battling back to take the lead at 21-20. They were setting at game-point, 24-22, needing just one point to win the game. It never came, as they ended up losing, 24-26.

Mountain Home led early in the second game, leading at one time, 11-6, but Emmett fought back to lead, 16-15. The Lady Tigers regained the lead, and increased it to 20-16, only to see Emmett come back to tie it at 20-20. Emmett built up a 24-22 lead, with the Lady Tigers battling back to tie it at 24-24. Emmett then scored the final two points to win, 26-24.

Down two games to none, the Lady Tigers started slow in the third game, and trailed on a couple occasions by nine, the last time at 9-18. But Mountain Home wasn't going to see their season end without a fight, and battled back to tie the match at 23-23, and went up, 24-23, again, a point away from a win. It was not meant to be, as Emmett fought back to win game three, also, 26-24, and the match, 3-0.

"It was an amazing battle, and the score's not going to do justice to the amount of effort, fight and determination that the girls had and really stepped up and fought," said Coach DeVore after the match. "It's a hard way to go out, knowing you're that close, but at the same time, it's an amazing way to end the season, being that close to going to State. I couldn't have asked for anything more!"

Dani Dean had 17 kills, seven service points and two aces.

Brandie Riggs had 24 assists. Chantell Crane had 13 kills. Sammy Dodge made good on 14 of 15 serves, had nine service points, two aces, five kills and two blocks, Ashley Kipp hit all 12 of her serves, had six service points, three aces and three kills, and Hannah Zamora had six digs.

Coach DeVore loses six seniors off this year's squad that went 6-12, and won twice as many as last year.

"It's heartbreaking to lose this group of seniors," said Coach DeVore. "Day-in and day-out, they worked their butts off and led this team and really showed this program what tradition is all about, working hard and fighting down the stretch, believing in our team -- that's what our tradition is going to be starting now."

Coach DeVore believes she has a good nucleus to build next year's team around.

"We have our setter Brandie Riggs, Chantell Crane, Katie Price and Hannah Zamora, and with the amount of talent, we brought up Jordan McCausland and Sarah Cantrell, and they've got a taste of the competition, and that's going to be huge for us."

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