Lady Tigers falter at district tourney

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers were hoping for better things in the District III 4A Volleyball Tournament, but instead bowed out of the tournament in two straight matches.

Columbia 3, Lady Tigers 0

The Lady Tigers went winless in the SIC 4A and opened the district tourney against top-seeded Columbia, which was unbeaten in conference.

Although the Lady Tigers played them tough, in close matches during the season, Monday night's match at Columbia was all Columbia until the third game, when Mountain Home finally got some game, but it was not enough, as the Lady Tigers lost in three.

Columbia's hitters were on their game all night as they breezed to a 25-11 win in the first game, and won the second 25-13.

Mountain Home battled tough, finally in the third game, the lead going back and fourth with 16 ties, the final tie at 22-22.

From there Columbia scored the final three points for a 25-22 win.

"We were kind of asleep in games one and two," said Lady Tiger volleyball coach Rachele Asbury. "We'd rally for a few points here and there, but we wouldn't push all the way through. The third game we came out and decided we wanted to play, and they were going for everything, but just a couple missed serves, a couple balls in the net, and you can't do that with a good team like Columbia.

Arlene Futch was 11/11 on serves, with two aces, eight kills and seven digs. Dylan Dean was 6/8 on serves with an ace, a kill, three blocks and six digs. Caitlin Kreyche was 6/7 serving with three kills and two digs.Nickayla Skinner was 7/8 serving with an ace, a kill, a block, a dig and 17 assists. Alexis Ruffing was 4/5 on serves with five digs. Tanya McKenzie was 4/5 serving with two digs.Shelby Roberts was 1/3 serving with one kill. Jessica Liercke had two blocks and Lindsay Sessions had two digs.

The Mountain Home women made 82 percent (39/47) of their serves while Columbia hit 88 percent (65/74) at the net.

Bishop Kelly 3, Lady Tigers 0

The Lady Tigers' loss to Columbia put them in the consolation bracket last Tuesday night, where they played the Lady Knights at Bishop Kelly. The Lady Knights had lost in three to Skyview.

Mountain Home fell behind early in all three games and lost in three straight to the Lady Knights. The Lady Tigers dropped behind early in the first game and never were able to make a run, losing 16-25.

The second game saw the Lady Tigers battle back from a nine-point deficit to come within three, at 15-18, and again at 19-22, but the came up short, 20-25.

The Lady Tigers managed a 1-1 tie in the third game, but fell behind and could never get anything going, losing 10-25.

"We had some people playing in some different spots than we had them play last night, so we were just kind of getting back into it, and we were a little slow," said Coach Asbury. "We had some good moments, but our passes were a little bit off and giving free balls back to a good team like that, they'll pound it back into your face."

Arlene Futch was 14/14 on serves with two kills and seven digs.Dylan Dean was 7/7 on serves with an ace, a kill, two blocks and 14 digs.Nickayla Skinner was 6/7 serving with an ace, 16 assists, a kill and four digs. Alexis Ruffing was 5/6 on serves with seven digs. Tanya McKenzie was 5/7 on serves with an ace and two digs. Caitlin Kreyche was 5/7 serving with seven kills and two digs. Jessica Liercke had five kills, Brittany Ryan had four digs and Shelby Roberts had a block and a dig.

The Lady Tigers played without one of their top players, Blas Lord, during the district tournament. Lord had missed practice with an injury.

For the match, the Lady Tigers made good on 88 percent (42/28) of their serves, while Bishop Kelly also hit 88 percent (64/73) of their serves.