Lady Tigers rebound with win over Jerome

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers came away with a split of their volleyball matches last week at home, losing to Bishop Kelly and beating Jerome.

Bishop Kelly 3, Mountain Home 0

Mountain Home had trouble getting into a rhythm last week in its home conference volleyball match with Bishop Kelly on Tuesday, losing in three straight sets.

Bishop Kelly shot out to a 4-0 lead and led all the way in winning the first set 25-16.

The Lady Knights jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second set. Mountain Home managed to claw back within two points, at 7-9, but could come no closer, as Bishop Kelly finished on a 16-7 run to win 25-14.

Mountain Home finally seemed to get it together in the third set, breaking away from a 3-3 tie to take a 15-8 lead. The Lady Knights went on a 9-1 run to take the lead 17-16. The lady Tigers regained the lead at 18-17 but were outscored 8-2 the rest of the way to drop the set, 20-25, and the match in three straight.

"We definitely played real solid in the third set," said Mountain Home Lady Tigers volleyball coach Jill Peterson. "I was pleased with how aggressively we were playing, and how smart we were playing. We had a few errors, mainly just due to being aggressive, so we'll just keep covering that in practice and working on getting those balls in."

Jessica Ruffing had six kills and two service aces for the Lady Tigers. Mattie Bennett had six kills, Ksyenya Peterson had 19 assists and a service ace, Willow Freer had four kills and Demery Dean had two service aces.

Mountain Home 3, Jerome 0

Mountain Home picked up a non-conference win Thursday night, beating Jerome in three straight sets in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

Mountain Home did not trail at all in the first set, and except for a 3-3 tie, kept the lead, ranging from one point to six, winning by a 25-21 score.

The second set had 13 ties and nine lead changes, with Mountain Home breaking two set-points to battle back and win 27-25.

Mountain Home trailed Jerome early, 2-5 in the third set, but went on a 23-9 run the rest of the game to take the set 25-14,and the match in three straight games.

Coach Peterson was pleased with the win and the confidence her Lady Tigers showed in the match.

"We definitely played with confidence and played smart," the coach said. "We had some trouble on finishing outside hits, but it didn't get them down and they stayed in the game and we were able to make some smart plays off their free balls."

Jessica Ruffing had 10 kills, two blocks and two service aces. Sable Lohmeier had eight kills, three blocks and three service aces. Mattie Bennett added five kills and two aces and Ksyenya Peterson had four kills, 28 assists and two service aces.

The Lady Tigers went to the Borah Invitational Tournament over the weekend. In pool play, in games to 30, they lost to Borah 22-30, lost to Nampa 18-30, lost to Timberline 26-30, beat Minico 30-25, lost to Fruitland 17-30 and lost to Bishop Kelly 16-30.

They went into the single-elimination bracket tournament seeded 12th and faced fifth-seeded Boise, losing in two straight games to be eliminated.

"Three starters were unable to attend the Borah tournament so four junior varsity players joined us and got some playing time," said Coach Peterson.

"This is normally a well-timed late season tournament where we have a chance to solidify our plays and rotation and head into our last games and districts strong," the coach added. "It's unfortunate that so many of our players couldn't make it. The players that were there worked hard and had some great games, especially against Timberline and Minico."

Mountain home has two conference road matches this week. They were at Skyview on Tuesday night, and travel to Kuna on Thursday, Oct. 9.

They close out their regular season schedule next Monday night at home against Caldwell.