Lady Tigers soar during season debut against Kuna

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers opened their 2012 volleyball season at home Thursday night, beating Kuna three games to one.

Mountain Home came out ready to play, taking the lead early in the first game and rolled to an easy 25-11 win.

The Lady Tigers shot out to a 3-0 lead in the second game, but Kuna battled back to lead 5-4. Mountain Home went on a 6-0 run to lead 10-5 before Kuna countered with a 6-0 run of their own to lead 11-10.

It was tied again at 11-11 and 12-12, but from there Kuna outscored the Lady Tigers 13-6 the rest of the way for a 25-18 win.

Game three had six ties early, the last one 10-10, as, down 10-7, the Lady Tigers went on a 9-0 run to go up 16-10. Kuna got within four points a couple times but Mountain Home held them off for a 25-18 win.

In the fourth game, Mountain Home started slow, and trailed 8-3 before a 7-0 run put them up 10-8. Kuna managed to tie the game at 11-11, but the Lady Tigers regained the lead and held them off for a 25-21 win to take the match, three games to one.

Lady Tiger volleyball coach Steve Mau was happy to begin the season with a win.

"It was an exciting match. Kuna always puts up a good fight and it was nice to come out of here with a win."

Mountain Home was good on 85 percent (79/93) of its serves. Janay Yulis was 18/18 serving with four aces. Dakota Dean was 17/18 on serves with four aces. Selena Foster was 15/16 serving with four aces and 12 kills. Tessa Pachner was 9/12 serving with an ace, four kills and two blocks. Emma Wenger was 7/10 serving with an ace and six kills. Ksyenya Peterson was 12/17 serving with four aces and 21 assists. Jacci Cristobal was 2/2 serving with 10 kills.

Mountain Home competed at the Kuna Klassic volleyball tournament Friday and Saturday, but had a rough time, winning just one match. The Lady Tigers hosted Emmett on Tuesday and travel to Caldwell on Thursday.