Lady Tigers still seeking elusive first win

As the Mountain Home Lady Tigers begin the second half of their SIC 4A conference volleyball schedule, their continued improvement has to have the other conference team coaches concerned if not down right worried.

Last week came and went without a conference win for the Lady Tigers, but they battled Nampa and Kuna tough, but fell short.

Nampa 25, 25, 25

Mountain Home 16, 23, 17

The Lady Tigers once again played their opponent tough, but Nampa came away with the victory in three games.

Mountain Home battled tough in the first game, but fell behind late, losing 16-25. Game two could have easily went Mountain Home's way, but a missed serve here, and an over the line there, and Nampa prevailed by two, 25-23. The third game ended, 25-17, Nampa, but was closer than the score indicated.

"It was a really good match," said Mountain Home Lady Tiger volleyball coach Heather Cherry.

"We stayed with them the whole way. The girls really played well together. they worked really hard and played well. The girls really passed well. Amanda (Bitterman) passed really well, Erica (Stanton) passed really well, and so did Jordana (Price), and so did Dani (Dean).

"Those kinds of things were very positive, they were good for us to see, because we were playing at an up-tempo pace and were doing it against a very good team. I'd say Nampa is the best team we've seen, so we're seeing good things, so that's exciting."

Kuna 25, 14, 25, 24, 15

Mountain Home 21, 25, 18, 26, 12

It took five games to decide this one Thursday night at Kuna as the Lady Tigers started their second time through their conference schedule.

Kuna took the first game in a close one, 25-21, but the Lady Tigers came back strong in game two, winning, 25-14. The Lady Kavemen took a 2-1 lead, winning game three, 25-18, but Mountain Home battled and battled in game four, evening the match at 2-2, with a 26-24 win, setting up the fifth and deciding game.

The fifth game was no different than the rest of the match, a close battle, with Kuna finally prevailing, 15-12.

"The girls overall passed really well and it was a really great match!" said Coach Cherry of the Kuna match. "We had some momentum (with the lopsided game two win), but then some crazy things happened and we lost the momentum and lost the third game, but the girls really looked good. They played really well, so we're getting there!"

For the match, Paula Barrientos had 20 assists. Ali Hillman served up 11 aces and had a block and two kills. Jordana Price had 16 kills and five blocks. Dani Dean had four kills and a a block, and Erica Stanton had four blocks.

Mountain Home was home against Emmett last (Tuesday) night, and plays at Skyview tomorrow (Thursday) night.