Lady Tigers stumble during District

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers saw their volleyball season come to a close at the District III 4A Volleyball Tournament.

Caldwell 25, 25, 20, 25

Mountain Home 21, 14, 25, 21

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers opened district at Caldwell Monday night, losing to the Lady Cougars in four sets.

Mountain Home came out flat and fell behind, 8-1, in the first set. The Lady Tigers battled back to within two, 10-8, but then fell behind 20-11. They managed to cut the deficit to three, at 24-21, but Caldwell scored the last point to win the first set 25-21.

The Lady Tigers led early in the second set, but a 14-5 run by Caldwell late in the set took the Lady Cougars to a 25-14 win.

The third set had eight ties, the last one at 15-15. From there, the Lady Tigers went on a 10-5 run to send the match to a fourth set with a 25-20 win.

Mountain Home fell behind in the fourth set but battled back to take the lead at 11-10 and stretched it to four points on a couple occasions, the last at 17-13, but the Lady Cougars finished on a 12-4 run to take the fourth set 25-21 and the match three to one.

"We definitely were playing off tonight," said Mountain Home volleyball coach Jill Peterson after the game.

"We really struggled with our passing, and even when we got our passes, our hitters struggled. It was really just a flat evening for us overall. There were a few moments of brightness, but pretty flat for us overall.

"When you throw in the missed serves, then you can see why we lost the match. It wasn't anything that Caldwell did that was amazing, we beat ourselves for sure," the coach added.

The Lady Tigers were playing without Janay Yulis, who set out with a knee injury.

Selena Foster had 13 kills, four assists and 16 digs. Dakota Dean had 20 digs, 10 assists and two aces. Mattie Bennett had eight digs, seven kills, three aces and two blocks. Ksyenya Peterson had 40 assists, 10 digs and two kills.

Mountain Home 26, 17, 25, 25

Columbia 24, 25, 18, 17

The Lady Tigers hosted Columbia in a loser-out match in the district tourney Tuesday night and eliminated the Lady Wildcats in four sets.

Mountain Home grabbed an early lead in the first game, but lost it and fell behind, 17-24, before rallying to win the first set 26-24.

After taking an early 1-0 lead in the second set, Mountain Home fell behind 1-6 and never got any closer than three points, losing 17-25.

In the third set, Mountain Home grabbed the lead for good at 3-2 and went on to win 25-18.

The Lady Tigers fell behind 0-4 in the fourth set, but battled back to take a 15-14 lead and then went onto win, 25-17, and win the match.

Coach Peterson was happy to get the win.

"We talked a lot about consistency and doing what it takes to win all the time, and not letting down when we're ahead," she said during her post-game comments.

Selena Foster led the Lady Tigers with 16 kills, three aces, three digs, two blocks and an assist. Dakota Dean had 14 digs, six assists and two kills, Jacci Cristobal had 11 digs, seven kills and a block, Mattie Bennett had seven kills, four aces and three blocks, and Ksyenya Peterson had 41 assists, five digs, two blocks and a kill.

Kuna 25, 25, 25

Mountain Home 17, 22, 12

The Columbia win put the Lady Tigers against Kuna in the consolation semi-finals on Wednesday at Bishop Kelly.

Mountain Home had lost to the Lady Kavemen twice during the regular season, the second time a much closer match. Hoping the third time would be the charm, the Lady Tigers battled but lost in three straight to end their season.

The first set went back and forth with eight lead changes and 10 ties, the last one at 12-12, before Kuna went on to win 25-17.

Mountain Home took control in the second set, building up a 21-16 lead, but were outscored 9-1 down the stretch to lose the second set 22-25.

The Lady Tigers started slow in the third set, and fell behind 0-14. They battled hard, but came up short, 12-25, to lose the game and match.

Coach Peterson lamented letting the second set get away from them.

"We were up, and I think we got a little bit complacent and let them come back and win," the coach said. "They're a very disciplined team and they know how to chip away at a lead, and they did it well.

"Then we were a little flat coming out for the third set, and Kuna came out so fired up and executed well," the coach added. "We had some missed passes, missed blocks -- just pretty flat. It was hard to catch up."

Coach Peterson said losing middle blocker Janay Yulis heading into the district tourney did not help them at all.

"That was an unfortunate injury that she had," Coach Peterson said. "We were scrambling -- we put a girl in the middle who hadn't played that position all year long, and that's one of the most difficult positions to learn."

Janay Yulis did return to the lineup some Wednesday night, but her ability at the net was limited, although she did get a block and a kill.

Selena Foster had nine kills, six digs and two aces. Dakota Dean had 15 digs, an ace and a kill, Ksyenya Peterson had 20 assists, two kills, an ace and a dig, Jacci Cristobal had four kills and five digs and Sable Lohmeier had four kills, two blocks and two digs.

Coach Peterson loses six good seniors off the squad, but likes the talent that will be coming back.

"Yes, we're looking forward to next year," the coach said. "We're excited about next season. Hopefully, we can get some touches on the ball between now and next season and get some summer tournaments going for those girls and they can come back ready to play a tough season next year."