Lady Tigers stumble, eliminated from District finals

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers were eliminated from the District III 4A Volleyball Tournament last Wednesday by Emmett at Nampa High School.

The Lady Tigers opened the district tourney with a home win over Kuna, then lost to Skyview at Skyview in the semi-finals.

Lady Tigers 16, 25, 23, 25, 15

Lady Kavemen 25, 19, 25, 17, 9

The fourth-seeded Lady Tigers hosted fifth-seed Kuna in the opening round of the district tourney last Monday in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium, winning the match in five games.

Mountain Home started slow in the first game, and trailed the whole game, except for ties at 14 and 15. From the 15-15 tie, Kuna went on a 10-1 run to win the first game, 25-16.

Mountain Home did not trail in the second game and went on to win 25-19.

In the third game, the lead went back and forth, with eight ties. Kuna went up 24-18 before the Lady Tigers rallied to within one, 24-23, but Kuna got the last point to win and go up, two games to one.

The Lady Tigers battled back in the fourth game, breaking away from a 12-12 tie to win 25-17.

Mountain Home fell behind early and trailed 8-9 before scoring the final seven points to win the game 15-9 and the match, three games to two.

Mountain Home Lady Tiger volleyball coach Rachele Asbury was pleased to see her team keep battling back for the win.

"We had some girls out there that are seeing their first district (tourney action), so it takes a little bit to get warmed up. You've got the jitters, and we had a little bit different rotation going on, so it took them a while to get going, but they were able to hang in and not let them get down."

Dylan Dean was 26/28 serving with six aces, 11 assists, six kills and 15 digs. Dakota Dean was 19/20 serving with five aces and eight digs. Selena Foster was 15/16 serving with two aces, seven kills and 11 digs. Stephanie Jewell was 14/16 on serves with three aces, 10 assists and four digs. Krissy Elliott was 11/11 serving with an ace, a kill and 12 digs. Emilee Schetzle was 10/11 serving with an ace, two kills and three blocks. Hailey Belt had 11 assists, six kills and a block, Tessa Pachner had nine blocks and five kills and Emma Wenger had eight kills.

Skyview 25, 25, 25

Mountain Home 5, 22, 8

The Kuna win put the Lady Tigers in the semi-finals of the district tournament against top-seeded Skyview at Skyview.

Mountain Home battled them close in the second game, but lost in three to head into the consolation bracket.

The Lady Tigers hit a buzz saw in the first game, as Skyview shot out to a 12-1 lead. After Mountain Home scored to make it 14-5, Skyview reeled off 11 straight points to win the first game 25-5.

Mountain Home led a couple times early in the second game before the Lady Hawks stretched their lead to 24-16. The Lady Tigers then battled back to within two, 24-22, before Skyview scored the final point to win the second game 25-22.

Skyview went on several runs in the third game, including a 9-0 run to end the game 25-8 and win the match in three straight.

"We just couldn't get into the game in the first game," said Coach Asbury.

"We didn't have very good passes on our serve-receive and couldn't put an offense together. We came back and played hard in the second game, and I was hoping to carry that momentum over into the third game, but tonight wasn't our night."

Dakota Dean was 12/13 serving with an ace and four digs. Dylan Dean was 7/8 serving with an ace, five assists, six kills and three digs. Stephanie Jewell was 5/5 serving with two assists. Emilee Schetzle was 5/5 serving with one kill. Krissy Elliott was 4/4 serving with five digs. Selena Foster was 3/3 serving, with three kills and two digs. Hailey Belt had five assists and a kill, Emma Wenger had three kills and Tessa Pachner had one block.

Emmett 18, 25, 27, 25

Mountain Home 25, 22, 25, 18

The season came to a close last Wednesday night at Nampa as the Lady Tigers lost to Emmett in four games in the consolation bracket.

Mountain Home came out strong in the first game and took the lead for good at 5-4. They stretched the lead out to seven on a couple occasions, including the final score of 25-18.

The Lady Tigers fell behind early in the second game and battled back to tie the game at 11-11, but were never able to take the lead, losing 22-25.

Mountain Home took an early lead in the third game and held it until the Lady Huskies battled back to lead 21-20. Mountain Home was a point away from winning, at 24-23, but Emmett managed a 27-25 win.

Mountain Home fell behind early and trailed 11-3,at one point, before battling back to tie the game at 13 and 14, then falling behind again. A 5-0 run at the end by Emmett gave the Lady Huskies a 25-18 win to win the match, three games to one, ending Mountain Home's season.

"We came out fighting and the girls had it in their minds that they wanted to play," said Coach Asbury.

"Emmett's a tough team and they were able to battle back against us."

Dakota Dean was 16/18 serving with an ace and 11 digs. Dylan Dean was 15/16 serving with 10 assists, six kills and 22 digs. Emilee Schetzle was 13/13 serving with an ace, four blocks, three kills, an assist and seven digs. Brittany Ryan was 13/16 serving with three aces and 18 digs. Krissy Elliott was 11/12 serving with seven digs. Stephanie Jewell was 10/12 serving with 11 assists and four digs. Hailey Belt had seven assists, six kills, three blocks and two digs. Selena Foster had seven kills, a block and five digs. Emma Wenger had four kills, two assists, a block and a dig and Tessa Pachner had two blocks.

Coach Asbury thought her Lady Tigers had a good season, despite finishing short of their goal of making state.

"The girls really turned it on this year. Things that we've been working on for the past few seasons just started coming into focus and they were able to see what their capabilities really are."

Coach Asbury loses six seniors to graduation and admits they will be hard to replace, but is optimistic about the future of Lady Tiger volleyball.

"We have some spots that we're going to have to fill, definitely people that are going to be hard to replace. We're trying to build a program and the seniors have some big shoes that we need to fill," she said.

"We have about half our squad that we'll have to replace, but that's nothing that we can't do."

The Lady Tigers went 8-8 in conference play and finished 21-20 overall, their best numbers for wins in a considerable number of years.