Post Falls wins, Lake City comes up short
<p>Post Falls' Jasmin Chavez celebrates following a first set point against Lake City High during Saturday's 5A Region 1 Volleyball Championship tournament. Post Falls won the match 3-1.</p>
<p>Allison Meehan, of Post Falls, blocks a hit by the Timberwolves' McKinna Seaman in the second set.</p>
POST FALLS - New faces, same result for the Post Falls High volleyball team.
After replacing five starters from last year's 5A Region 1 championship team, the Trojans repeated as regional champions with a 25-15, 25-6, 22-25, 25-16 win over the Lake City Timberwolves on Saturday at The Arena.
Post Falls (28-6) will face Boise on Friday in its state 5A tournament opener at Canyon Ridge High in Twin Falls at 9 a.m. PDT.
Lewiston (26-7) defeated Lake City 25-23, 25-12, 24-26, 14-25, 15-11 in the second-place match and will open with Centennial on Friday at noon. Lake City finished 9-18.
Post Falls jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the regional title match before Lake City rallied in the third game. Post Falls closed out the match with a 25-16 win in the fourth set.
“We’re playing really well right now,” Post Falls coach Willow Hanna said. “We’ve been playing well as a team.”
Junior Ashley Jibby had seven kills, 13 digs and two aces for Post Falls.
“We had a lot of intensity today throughout the match,” Jibby said. “We knew what we needed to do as a team and all of us wanted to go to state really bad. This is just part of a three-part process. We’ve met most of those goals, now we need to reach the next one.”
Post Falls junior Tori Bertsch, the only returning starter, had 20 assists and two aces.
“This year, when we get down, we know we can come right back,” Bertsch said. “We’ve got a little more fight than last year. We’ve played with a lot more intensity today.”
Allison Meehan and Sierra Monti also had seven kills, and Brooke Litalien had 11 digs for Post Falls. Monti led Post Falls with three blocks.
“I thought our two middles (Danielle Failor and Monti) blocked the ball really well today,” Hanna said. “Tori runs the floor really well out there for us.”
Jennifer Schuman had 11 kills, Kelly Jo Cutler had three blocks, MacKenzie Brown had eight digs and Camille Rounds had 16 assists for Lake City in the regional title match.
Earlier on Saturday, Lewiston eliminated Coeur d’Alene 14-25, 25-16, 25-8, 25-19 in the first loser-out match of the day.
Sydni Williams had five blocks, Kylie Curtis 21 assists and five aces, Chelsey Rasmussen eight kills and Demi Johnson nine digs for the Vikings, who finished 9-18.