Lady Tigers fall to Middleton, Emmett

It's beginning to become a pattern for Mountain Home Lady Tiger volleyball -- play close games, but lose the lead in the end to lose the match.

That proved to be the case last week, as the Lady Tigers dropped two more close conference matches.

Middleton 3, Mountain Home 0

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers battled Middleton tough but lost to the visiting Lady Vikings in three straight games last Tuesday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

Mountain Home led early in the first game and saw the lead go back and fourth. The Lady Tigers led 17-14 before things went sour for them, as Middleton then outscored them 11-1 to claim the first game 25-18. The Lady Tigers fell behind 10-2 in the second game and never were able to come closer than five points, as Middleton won 25-14.

Mountain Home trailed from the start of the third game, but battled back to take a 20-18 lead, before the Lady Vikings came back to regain the lead 24-22. Mountain Home battled back to tie the game at 24-24, but a bad serve gave Middleton the lead and they went on to score the next point for a 26-24 win.

Mountain Home Lady Tiger volleyball coach Rachele Asbury thought inconsistency hurt them.

"They run a good offense -- a quick offense -- and our blocks were not there and we were running a little slow, so our back row defense was not in position, and if our block doesn't get there, then our passes are poor.

"We need to play consistently. We're playing hot and cold and we need to be able to play hot all the time, or when we are cold, we need to be able to pull ourselves out and be able to pick it up and come back and finish a game."

The Lady Tigers only made 79 percent (45/57) of their serves for the match, while Middleton was made 91 percent (68/75).

Blas Lord was 7/9 on serves, had two service points and two aces, six kills, four blocks and seven digs. Dylan Dean was 8/9 on serves, had six service points, an ace, three kills, three digs and five assists. Arlene Futch was 12/14 serving, had seven service points, had three aces, three kills and five digs. Nickayla Skinner was 6/7 on serves, had five service points, two aces, seven assists, a kill and a dig. Alexis Ruffing was 4/4 serving, had an ace and seven digs.

Meanwhile, Tanya McKenzie was 2/4 serving and had a kill and two digs. Caitlin Kreyche was 3/3 serving, had two kills and a block, Shelby Roberts was 3/7 on serves, had two kills and a dig, Brittany Ryan and Jessica Liercke both had a dig, and Lindsay Sessions had a block.

Emmett 3, Mountain Home 1

Mountain Home forced a fourth game at Emmett Thursday night, but lost the final two games by a combined seven points to lose the match, three games to one.

Mountain Home battled in the first game, but came up short 19-25. They got things working their way in the second game and picked up the win, 25-18. The third game was close, with Emmett prevailing 25-21 as the Lady Huskies picked up the win by holding off Mountain Home in the fourth for a 25-22 win.

Nickayla Skinner was 8/9 on serves, had an ace, a kill, four digs and 20 assists. Alexis Ruffing had 23 digs, Blas Lord was 10/12 serving, with an ace, six blocks, six kills and four digs. Arlene Futch made good on 13/17 serves, had two aces, four kills and four digs. Caitlin Kreyche was 10/14 on serves, with two aces, eight kills, five digs and a block. Dylan Dean was 9/11 serving, had five kills, five digs, two blocks and an assist. Tanya McKenzie was 12/13 serving, had five kills, a block and a dig, and Brittany Ryan had two digs.

Mountain Home made just 82 percent (62/76) of their serves in the match.

"Our serving killed us at critical times," said Coach Asbury of the Emmett match.

Mountain Home went to the Wood River Invitational Tournament on Friday and Saturday. They traveled to Nampa High School last night for a conference tri-match with the host Lady Bulldogs and Kuna. They go to Bishop Kelly tomorrow night for a conference match.