Lady Tigers place fourth at tournament

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers battled hard, but came up a bit short to the Bishop Kelly Lady Knights last Tuesday night in SIC 4A conference volleyball in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

The Lady Tigers shot out to a 7-2 lead in game one, and led 9-5, before Bishop Kelly went on a 7-0 run to lead 12-9.

Mountain Home fell behind 11-18, before getting three straight points to come within four, at 14-18, only to have the Lady Knights score the final seven points of the game to win, 25-14.

The second game had 15 ties, the last one at 24-24, after Mountain Home had led, 24-22, and serving. Bishop Kelly won game two, 26-24.

Mountain Home fell behind early in the third game, but stayed close, and got to within two, at 19-21, and 20-22, but Bishop Kelly scored the final three points to win game three, 25-20, and the match, 3-0.

Despite the loss, Mountain Home volleyball coach Sarah DeVore was proud of the way her girls kept battling.

"They definitely do know how to fight, and when we can get over that hump and feel what it's like to win, that fight will pay off.

"I keep telling the girls if they keep working like that, and do the little things, and keep the little things going in practice, it'll pay off on the court, so we've got to keep our heads high."

On the night, Erica Stanton was 11 of 12 on serves, had eight service points two aces and a kill. Ali Hillman was eight of nine on serves, had one service point and five kills. Brandie Riggs was seven of eight on serves, had three points and an ace, and six assists. Dani Dean was five of five serving, scored three points, had four kills and a block. Sammy Dodge was six o seven on serves, scored three points, with one ace, had a block and three digs.

For the night, the Lady Tigers made good on 53 of 58 serves for 91 per cent. Bishop Kelly got in 67 of 73 serves for 92 per cent.

Last Saturday the Lady Tigers traveled down to Twin Falls for the Twin Falls Invitational Volleyball Tournament, where they finished fourth out of 13 teams. Twin Falls won the round-robin tourney (where each team played each team in a 25-minute match), going 11-1, and beating Shoshone (11-1) for first. Gooding finished third, going 10-2. Mountain Home was fourth, going 7-5, followed by Jerome (7-5), Burley (6-6), Buhl (6-6),Melba (5-7), Fruitland (5-7), Minico (3-9), Declo (3-9), Kimberly (3-9) and Caldwell (1-11).

Coach DeVore was pleased with their effort at the Twin Falls tourney and thought they gained much from the experience.

"This is just what we were needing, and the girls responded well. We started off a little sluggish getting there in the morning, but they turned it on around 11 o'clock and came after some teams and showed what they truly can do on the court, and that was very good for us."

The Lady Tigers have another busy week this week. They were at Vallivue last (Tuesday) night and host Nampa tomorrow (Thursday) night, both matches SIC 4A conference encounters. The Lady Tigers then go to Wood River Friday and Saturday for the Wood River Invitational Tournament.

"We realize we have some challenges as far as our conference goes," said Coach DeVore, "but the past weekend (Twin Falls) helped us out, showing that we know how to win and that we can do it. Now we've just got to show our conference that, and then head to Wood River where we'll play some great teams like Hillcrest and some other teams from eastern Idaho.

"It'll be a tough week, but the girls are excited. They're really coming together as a team and looking sharp."