Lady Tigers classy in exit from district

A season that has seen a lot of ups and downs, with more downs than ups, came to a close last week for the Mountain Home Lady Tigers at the District III 4A Volleyball Tournament at Skyview, but not without a classy exit.

The Lady Tigers dropped their opener to Bishop Kelly, came back to beat Emmett, and narrowly lost to Vallivue.

Bishop Kelly

25, 25, 25

Mountain Home

14, 19, 18

The Lady Tigers showed brief periods of brilliance, but not a whole lot of consistency when they opened the District III 4A Volleyball Tournament at Skyview Monday night with a 3-0 loss to Bishop Kelly.

Mountain Home started slow, and trailed 6-0 before finally scoring, but battled back to tie the game at 10-10 and take an 11-10 lead.

The Lady Tigers would score just three points the rest of the game, however, losing 14-25.

The second game saw Mountain Home start even slower, trailing at one point, 4-17. A 7-0 run cut it to 11-17, and they managed to get to within five, at 19-24, before Bishop Kelly scored the final point for a 25-19 win.

In game three, Mountain Home had another slow start, falling down by six points. They battled back to within one, at 14-15, but were outscored 10-4 the rest of the way, losing the game, 18-25, and the match, three games to none.

"B. K. (Bishop Kelly) definitely gave us some opportunities and we didn't take advantage of them," said Mountain Home Lady Tiger volleyball coach Sarah DeVore after the match. "We would fight a little here and there, and the rest of the time we were a little bit too sloppy.

"When we take ourselves out of the game like that, there's not much you can say. For a second seeded team (Bishop Kelly was the number two seed), I thought we had our opportunities and certainly didn't take advantage of them."

Dani Dean had six kills and two blocks against Bishop Kelly. Sammy Dodge had nine service points on 12 of 12 serving and two kills. Erica Stanton had five kills and four service points, Kaleena Bluemer had four kills, four service points and two aces, and Brandie Riggs had seven assists.

Mountain Home

15, 25, 25, 23, 15

Emmett

25, 15, 14, 25, 13

The Lady Tigers faced Emmett in a loser-out match last Tuesday. Emmett had lost to Kuna in first round action. The Lady Huskies had beaten Mountain Home twice during the regular season, both matches going four games.

Mountain Home took an early lead in game one, and had their chances to run away with it, but just could not find any consistency, and ended up losing, 15-25.

Game two had three ties, the last one at 5-5, and from there, Mountain Home gradually built up their lead, winning, 25-15.

Mountain Home broke away early from a 2-2 tie, and gradually built up their lead to a 25-14 win in game three.

In game four, it looked like the Lady Tigers might wrap up the game in four, as they led early, 7-2, and again by five, at 10-5, but Emmett battled back to tie the game at 12-12, 13-13, 14-14, and 15-15, with the Lady Huskies shooting out to a 24-19 lead.

Mountain Home battled back to within one, at 23-24, but Emmett scored the last point to win, 25-23, and knot the match up at two games apiece.

That set up the fifth and deciding game, which goes to 15, instead of 25. Mountain Home again started well, and built up an 11-5 lead, only to see the Lady Huskies come back to tie the game at 11-11, 12-12, and 13-13.

Mountain Home hung tough and scored the final two points of the match to win the game, 15-13, and the match, three games to two.

Dani Dean had nine service points, nine kills and eight blocks against Emmett. Erica Stanton had 10 service points on 19 of 19 serves and eight kills. Brandie Riggs had 11 service points and 20 assists, Ali Hillman had nine points and three kills, Kaleena Bluemer had seven service points, four kills and two blocks, and Sammy Dodge had seven service points, three kills and two blocks.

Vallivue

25, 26, 25, 22, 15

Mountain Home

23, 28, 22, 25, 13

The season came to a close for the Lady Tigers last Wednesday night with a loss in five close games to Vallivue, but they went down fighting until the end.

After ties at 1-1, 2-2, and 3-3, the Lady Tigers took the lead in game one, and gradually increased it to eight points, at 17-9, before losing their focus. With Mountain Home up, 20-16, Vallivue went on a 7-0 run to go up, 23-20. The Lady Tigers got back within one, 23-24, before Vallivue scored the final point to register the win.

Mountain Home took the early lead in game two, and weathered five ties before losing the lead for the first line, 14-15, and trailed by three on a couple occasions before battling back.

The game had 12 ties, the last at 26-26, and Mountain Home scored the final two points to win, 28-26, and even the match at a game apiece.

In game three, after ties at 1-1, and 2-2, the Lady Tigers lost the lead, but never fell back farther than four points at 15-19. They came up short, 22-25, to fall back two games to one in the best of five match.

Game four had 10 ties, the last one at 21-21, with Mountain Home holding their own, and coming up with a 25-22 win to even the match at 2-2.

That set up the fifth and deciding game, where the Lady Tigers fell down quickly 0-2, but went on a 5-0 run to lead 5-2, only to see Vallivue tie it at 5-5, again at 7-7, and 10-10.

Mountain Home went up 12-10 before the Lady Falcons came back to tie it at 12-12. After the Lady Tigers went back ahead, 13-12, Vallivue scored the final three points to win the game, 15-13, and the match, three games to two.

Dani Dean was 22 of 24 on serves, scored 12 points, had four aces, four kills, seven blocks and six digs. Erica Stanton hit 18 of 19 serves, scored nine points, had nine kills and a block.

Brandie Riggs was perfect on 21 serves, scored eight points and had a season high 27 assists.

Kaleena Bluemer had 13 kills, Ali Hillman 11 kills and two blocks, and Sammy Dodge was 19 of 20 on serves, scored 10 points, had seven blocks and a kill, Lisa Cantrell had three points on seven of seven serves, and Bethany Law had two digs.

The Lady Tigers ended the season 3-14.