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PRIEST RIVER — The Priest River Lamanna High School volleyball team hosted Kellogg for a rematch Tuesday, Sept. 22, losing once again to the firstranked Wildcats.
Currently, Priest River is ranked second in the 3A Central Idaho league. Coach Katlyn Ward hopes the Spartans will not only maintain that going into districts but take first during the championship game.
“They truly fought during Tuesday night’s game,” Ward says.
The Spartans (3-2, 8-3) were on the Wildcats’ (6-0, 12-1) heels for most of the game, only dropping the first set 20-25 and the second 21-25. However, they could no longer keep up by the third set, which ended 13-25 in Kellogg’s victory.
Leading the Spartans was McKinley Burgess- Duquette with 13 digs, seven hits and three aces. Ava Griesemer added five hits and one solo block; Raygn Turner 19 digs; Loralei Cooper eight assists; Haylee Jepson-Church six assists; and Rylee Dixon one solo block and one assist block.
“Priest River played so much better at home than they did away in Kellogg a week prior,” Ward says.
Coming away from the loss, Priest River hosted Grangeville (0-5, 0-10) Saturday, Sept. 26 and won in three straight sets. Though Grangeville kept up with Priest River early game, only dropping the first set 25-20, the Spartans dominated the second and third sets, taking them 25-9 and 25-13.
“We suspected it would be like Monday’s game against Riverside,” Ward says. “And it was.”
Jepson-Church led the Spartans with 24 assists and five digs. Callie Stanger added nine digs and five aces; Burgess-Duquette 13 hits; Turner six aces; and Griesemer five blocks.
Priest River hosted St. Maries Tuesday, Sept. 29 after The Miner’s weekly deadline. They host Timberlake at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, before visiting Wallace at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5.
