Viks spiked by LC
Timberwolves earn trip to state; Cd'A must win play-in
COEUR d'ALENE — For the Lake City Timberwolves, the talking-to they got after getting drubbed in the first game of the 5A Region 1 championship match must have felt like going to urgent care with head wounds to get stitches.
That last part actually happened — but we'll get to that later.
No. 2 seed Lake City bounced back from an abysmal first game to steamroll past No. 1 seed Coeur d'Alene 14-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-18 before an estimated 600 fans at Coeur d'Alene High.
Lake City (19-10) advances to state Oct. 28-29 at Post Falls High. The Timberwolves open at 11:30 a.m. vs. Skyline (36-8) of Idaho Falls, the District 4-5-6 runners-up.
Coeur d'Alene (11-14) travels to Lewiston on Saturday to play Borah of Boise at 12:30 p.m. in a play-in game to state.
After the first game on Thursday, first-year Lake City coach Jenny Owen marched her squad into a corner of the gym, behind the bleachers.
"She wasn't too happy," Timberwolf outside hitter Tabi Mabrey said. "But she pumped us up."
"I wasn't happy that we didn't give 100 percent of anything," Owen said. "We didn't give it at the net, or serving, or passing. Everything we did was a reaction instead of an action."
After emerging from behind the woodshed, the T-Wolves were a different team. They scored the first three points of the second game, dominated the net, and never trailed the rest of the match.
Mabrey, sporting a bandage on her chin, led the way with 10 kills — five in the second game — and also had three digs. And five other T-Wolves had five or more kills. Outside hitter Lynn Hoppert had eight kills, setter/right side hitter Caitlin Crimp had five kills and 13 assists, setter/right side hitter Renee Bordelon had eight kills, 17 assists and three digs, and middle blocker Riki Moreland had seven kills and seven digs.
Owen praised libero Kelli Bridges and her 18 digs, most of which were good enough to allow LC to get its offense going.
"We started to pass better, and our offense started to click," Owen said. "We shared the ball and did a good job as a team of getting the job done."
Mabrey and Crimp collided while diving for a ball late in practice on Wednesday. Owen escorted them to urgent care, where Mabrey received a couple of stitches in her chin, Crimp six stitches on her head. But both were determined to play Thursday night.
Coeur d'Alene could have used a trip to urgent care after its game went south in the final three games. Following an inspired first game, the Vikings generated little offense after that.
"I'm not quite sure if our girls were just shocked that they did so well in the first game," Coeur d'Alene coach Carly Curtis said. "I didn't feel Lake City did anything differently; we just weren't controlling the ball. I didn't feel like we got a chance to attack the ball like we normally do."
Outside hitter Liz Davis had eight kills for Coeur d'Alene. Middle blocker Rachel Moore had 11 blocks, Sally Sperle 18 assists, libero Jackie Lenz 18 digs, defensive specialist Heather Helmhout three aces.
Lake City and Coeur d'Alene have split their four meetings this season. Cd'A had won the last two.
"It's very frustrating, but we've got to stay positive, because we've got another chance at state on Saturday," Curtis said.