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PRIEST RIVER — After three Central Idaho League District Tournament games last week, the Priest River Lamanna High School volleyball team has finished second.
Priest River (6-2, 15-4) played third-ranked Orofino (3-5, 7-14) Tuesday, Oct. 13, defeating the Maniacs 3-2.
“We went to five and won,” coach Katlyn Ward says.
Though the Spartans dropped the first set 21-25, they came back to take the second 25-9 and the third 25-20. The Maniacs took the fourth 25-22 and forced the Spartans into a tiebreaker, but Priest River emerged victorious at 15-9.
Ava Griesemer led in hits with 16, Loralei Cooper in aces with five, Haylee Jepson-Church in assists with 36 and Callie Stanger in digs with 37. Griesemer also had two locks.
McKinley Burgess-Duquette added 21 digs, 13 hits and two blocks, Rylee Dixon two blocks and Raygyn Turner 22 digs.
That brought Priest River to the finals, for which they played first-ranked Kellogg (8-0, 18-1) Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Moscow Bear Den. However, after going to five sets again, the Spartans were defeated 2-3.
The Spartans and Wildcats went back and forth, with Kellogg taking the first set 25-14, Priest River the second 25-22, Kellogg the third 25-13, Priest River the fourth 25-21 and Kellogg the fifth 15-8.
That night, Priest River played Orofino to decide the true-second finish, again defeating the Maniacs 3-2.
It was another back-and-forth game, with Priest River taking the first set 25-17, Orofino the second 26-24, Priest River the third 26-24, Orofino the fourth 25-20 and Priest River the fifth 15-7.
Having finished second, the Spartans are set for a state play-in game this Saturday. The time, location and opponent were still to be determined by The Miner’s weekly deadline.
