Lady Tigers still seeking first win

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers continue to improve, but dropped two more SIC 4A conference volleyball matches last week.

They competed at the Wood River Invitational last weekend, going 2-4.

Vallivue 28, 25, 25

Mountain Home 26, 17, 14

The Lady Tigers battled Vallivue tough last Tuesday night at Vallivue. They fought hard, extending the first game before coming up short, 26-28. Mountain Home played hard second game, but again came up short, 17-25. They dropped game three, 14-25, to lose the match in three games.

Ali Hillman had five kills on the night, and Brandie Riggs had nine assists on the evening.

Nampa Lady Bulldogs

25, 20, 27. 25

Mountain Home

23, 25, 25. 23

For a while Thursday night, it looked like Mountain Home would at last get that first volleyball win of the season.

After dropping the first game, which had nine ties, 23-25, the Lady Tigers built up a 10-point lead in the second game, and coasted to a 25-20 victory.

The Lady Tigers then shot out to a 9-0 lead in the third game, and led until Nampa tied it at 24-24.

After Nampa took a 25-24 lead, Mountain Home came back to tie it at 25-25, but Nampa scored the next two points to win, 27-25.

In game four, the Lady Tigers once again led early, and maintained a lead until Nampa caught them at 16-16. Nampa then went up 23-18, and Mountain Home could come no closer than one, at 22-23, and 23-24, before Nampa scored to win the game, 25-23, and the match, 3-1.

Lady Tiger volleyball coach Sarah DeVore thought her girls battled hard against Nampa.

"We keep fighting, and it will playoff, I know it will! I thought tonight would certainly be the night, because we got up on them in that second and third game, but Nampa just fought back, too. The girls are definitely improving each game, and we're just waiting to get that first win under our belt."

Brandie Riggs led the Lady Tigers on the night, going 25 for 25 in serves, getting 17 service points. five aces, three kills and 22 assists. Dani Dean was good on 20 of 21 serves, scored 12 points, had eight service aces, 10 kills and two blocks. The Lady Tigers made good on 89 percent (87/98) of their serves, while Nampa hit 92 percent (87/95).

The Lady Tigers went to Hailey last Friday and Saturday for the Wood River Invitational Volleyball Tournament, where they went 2-4.

They opened up pool play Friday afternoon losing to Wood River, before ending the night with an impressive win over Weiser.

They completed pool play Saturday morning, losing to Blackfoot.

In the tournament play, they opened against Kuna and lost, but came back to beat Gooding in the consolation bracket. They had another good battle with Bishop Kelly before losing, and being eliminated from the tournament.

"We just came out flat to start out the tournament, and tried to recover from that and struggled doing so," said Coach DeVore. "There were some games, when we played Weiser and Gooding, the girls were just on fire and really came together, and we gave Bishop Kelly a run for their money, but overall, in the losses, we didn't show up to play those games. We're looking for a way to be more consistent."

The Lady Tigers hosted Kuna last (Tuesday) night, and travel to Emmett tomorrow (Thursday) night, both matches, SIC 4A conference matches.

Coach Devore hopes for some success as they go into the second round of conference play.

"Emmett's a team we went four games with, and we're hoping the second time around we'll pull off a victory there. Right now, it's just a matter of mentally being prepared, because the talent's there, it's just that mental game right now."