Lady Tigers beat Columbia, fall to Bishop Kelly

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers returned to conference play last week and split their matches, beating Columbia but losing to Bishop Kelly.

Mountain Home 25, 25, 25

Columbia 23, 23, 23

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers picked up their first conference volleyball win of the season last Tuesday night, downing Columbia in three straight games by a 25-23 score at Columbia High School.

"It was a nail-biter every set," said Mountain Home volleyball coach Jill Peterson of the Columbia win. "My girls played incredible defense and smart volleyball. We had too many serving errors at critical times, but fortunately, so did they."

Janay Yulis led the Lady Tigers with 10 kills, an ace and three blocks. Jacci Cristobal had seven kills. Ksyenya Peterson had 25 assists and a block. Whitney Sandberg had four kills and two aces and a block, Mattie Bennett had three kills and two aces and Dakota Dean earned one kill and two aces.

Bishop Kelly 25, 25, 25

Mountain Home 20, 14, 16

The Lady Tigers were not at full strength as they battled Bishop Kelly last Thursday night at Bishop Kelly and it showed, as they lost in three games to the Lady Knights.

"We had two players that were sick, so we had girls playing in positions they don't usually play," Coach Peterson said. "Bishop Kelly is a tall team and we struggled getting blocks on their outside hitters, and our defense was sluggish.

"I was encouraged with our hitting because we were hitting against a big block and we hope to capitalize on that in our next match at home," the Lady Tigers' coach added.

Selena Foster had 11 kills and served two aces for the Lady Tigers. Jacci Cristobal had six kills, Janay Yulis had four kills, two blocks and two aces, Dakota dean had five digs and Ksyenya Peterson had 14 assists.

The Lady Tigers hosted Middleton Tuesday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium and go to Twin Falls for the Twin Falls Invitational on Saturday.