Lady Tigers show improvement

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers showed improvement last week, despite dropping three matches.

Caldwell 25, 25, 15, 25

Mountain Home 13, 14, 25, 19

The Lady Tigers opened their conference volleyball schedule at home last week, losing to Caldwell 3-1 last Tuesday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

Mountain Home started slow in game one, and a 15-6 run by the Lady Cougars midway through the game led to a 25-13 win.

In game two, the Lady Tigers grabbed the lead and led 10-7 before Caldwell went on an 18-4 run the rest of the way to win, 25-14.

After trailing 3-0 in game three, Mountain Home fought back and took the lead for good at 8-7, and went on to win 25-15.

In game four, Mountain Home led early, before a 12-3 run by the Lady Cougars gave them their biggest lead of the game, 14-6. The Lady Tigers fought back to within four, at 12-16, but could come no closer, losing the game, 19-25, and the match 1-3.

"They showed a lot of promise, definitely," said Mountain Home Lady Tiger volleyball coach Heather Cherry after the match.

"We just had a tough time getting out in the first two games. We showed a little bit of improvement in that second game, but we kind of lost the momentum.

"The third game was great, it was definitely the kind of ball that I know they can play, and that's the level I'm trying to get them to play in practice, and that in itself, is a great sign.

"That's been the most unified and aggressive, and just well-played ball that we've played, so I'm very excited. The girls did a good job of hitting tonight. They hit into the net a few times, and they hit it out a few times, but they didn't get scared to hit, and that's good, because we've got to be aggressive, we've got to hit at the net."

Shelby Wickmark went 12 for 14 in serves, with six service points, two service aces and seven kills. Rochelle Garland went 14 for 15 in serves, had seven service points and 11 assists. Kim Gulley had five kills.

Bishop Kelly 25, 25, 26

Mountain Home 16, 19, 24

The Lady Tigers played Bishop Kelly tough last Thursday night at home, but lost their conference match in three straight.

Kim Gulley had seven blocks and two kills. Shelby Wickmark had six kills and two blocks. Paula Barrientos had four assists and a service ace, and Krista Gorman had five digs.

"I thought the girls played well against Bishop Kelly," said Coach Cherry. "Had we not made a couple errors, we could have won that game (24-26), and that might have turned things around."

Jerome 25,25

Mountain Home 17,18

The Lady Tigers also hosted Jerome Thursday night, losing a a tough non-conference match in two straight.

"We played Jerome much better than we did at the Twin Falls tourney," said Coach Cherry, "so we continue to progress."

Shelby Wickmark registered four kills in the match. Krista Gorman had seven digs, Christa Stanton had two kills and three blocks, and Rachelle Garland had three assists and one service ace.

The Lady Tigers were at Wood River on Friday and Saturday for the Wood River Invitational Tournament, where they played five matches, losing all five of them, but most of them in close games.

Coach Cherry thought the Wood River Tourney was a good learning experience for her girls,

"We talked about a lot of things that we saw us doing at the tourney that I think will help us get better. One thing that we're going to work on a lot this week is getting off the net quicker. That's something we've got to do better.

"But the girls are progressing, and I'm feeling good about the progress they're making."

The Lady Tigers were at Emmett last (Tuesday) night, and go to Vallivue tomorrow (Thursday) night, both matches conference matches. They host Kuna on Sept. 30.