Lady Tigers score first win over Nampa

For a while it looked like the Mountain Home Lady Tigers were going to have wins over both Nampa and Emmett last week, but the Lady Huskies came back to down the Lady Tigers in five, so Mountain Home came out with a split of last week's conference volleyball matches.  

Mountain Home 25, 25, 26

Nampa  20, 15, 24      

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers did not pick up their first conference volleyball win until October     last year, when they swept two matches from Caldwell. 

This year, the Lady Tigers did the trick in their first home match of the season, knocking off Nampa in three straight Tuesday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.      

The first game had eight ties, the last at 12-12, after Mountain Home had briefly trailed, 11-12. 

Hannah Zamora served up four straight points with three aces, and the Lady Tigers pulled away for a 25-20 win. 

Dani Dean had five kills.      

Mountain Home trailed in the early going of game two, and battled back from a 9-4 deficit to go on a 21-6 run the rest of the game to win, 25-15. 

Dani Dean, Chantell Crane and Sammy Dodge each had four kills in the game, Sheena Nelsen was a perfect eight- for-eight serving had had six service points.      

Mountain Home played a sluggish third game, as Nampa came out determined to avoid a three game sweep. 

Trailing 17-10, the Lady Tigers stormed back to tie the game at 19-19.  Nampa again went up by two, but momentum was turning in the Lady Tigers favor. 

Dani Dean had eight kills in the comeback that saw Mountain Home win game three, 26-24, and the match, 3-0.      

"It was a great match -- a great team win all the way around," said Mountain Home volleyball coach Sarah DeVore after the match. 

"We put in some different lineups there and they fought back in that third game, so this team is a solid team and when they have that kind of confidence, there's no telling what they can do. 

"They never got rattled and played some solid defense and got aggressive on offense, and last Thursday night (against Skyview) we were missing that, and they brought it tonight. 

"Dani Dean had an excellent match all the way around, defensively and offensively. Sammy Dodge was nails back there.  I know she was getting a little tired because she was working her butt off. 

"Brandie Riggs, I can't say how far she's come.  She's a junior setter and she really takes charge of the offense out there.  They're just a great crew to have."      

For the night, Dani Dean was 13/15 on serves, had nine service points, one ace, 17 kills and a block.  Hannah Zamora was good on all 14 of her serves, had eight service points, four aces, a kill, a block and two digs.  Sheena Nelsen was 9/11 on serves, with seven service points.  Brandie Riggs was 10/11 on serves, had four service points, an ace and 26 assists.  Sammy Dodge was perfect on her eight serves, had three service points and nine kills. Chantell Crane had six kills. Katie Price made all four of her serves and had two service points. Maggie Peterson made all three of her serves, had two service points and two kills.  Ashley Robins was perfect on her three serves and had two service points, and Ashley Kipp made good on all five of her serves and had one serve point.      

The Lady Tigers made 93 percent (69/74) of their serves, while Nampa hit 58 of 61 (95 percent).  

Emmett  18, 23, 25, 25, 15

Lady Tigers 25, 25, 19, 11, 7

The Lady Tigers started strong against Emmett Thursday night at Emmett, and were sitting in the driver's seat after winning the first game 25-18, and taking the second game of the best of five match, 25-23. 

But Emmett battled back to win the third game, 25- 19, to keep the match going, and then took game four, 25-11, to force a fifth and deciding game to 15.  Momentum had swung Emmett's way, and there was no stopping it, as the Lady Huskies prevailed, 15-7, winning the match, 3-2. "It was a great start to what turned out to be a full match," said Coach DeVore. 

"We got a lead and got a little too comfortable, and then just lost the momentum, and Emmett took advantage and carried the momentum away and took it with that fifth game."      

Dani Dean led Mountain Home with 18 kills, Sammy Dodge had 10, and Brandie Riggs had 25 assists.      

The Lady Tigers have a busy week of volleyball this week, playing at Bishop Kelly last (Tuesday) night, playing a tri-match with Kuna and Middleton at Kuna on Thursday night, and then going to Twin Falls on Saturday for the Twin Falls Invitational.       

Coach DeVore was hoping her Lady Tigers could bounce back for their busy week of volleyball.

"I certainly hope so.  The attitude after the (Emmett) match was a little frustration and a little disappointment that it turned out that way.  They recognized that was a good chance to pick up a win, and Emmett's a good team, and we learned a lot from that match, and fortunately, we're learning quickly at the beginning of the season, so hopefully, down the stretch of the season, we'll apply things that happened to us and use that to get better."