Lake City sweeps to 5A IEL volleyball title
COEUR d’ALENE — Coaches will always find something that went wrong, something to improve on — that’s what they do.
But Lake City looked nearly flawless in serving, on the attack and on defense in thumping visiting Coeur d’Alene 25-22, 25-20, 25-15 on Tuesday night to win the 5A Inland Empire League volleyball title.
“Our error ratio was very low tonight,” said Lake City junior outside hitter Arlaina Stephenson, who finished with seven kills. “I think this was a very good match, and probably was our best.”
Ashley Kaufman had eight kills and three blocks for Lake City (20-1, 6-0 5A IEL), which will be the No. 1 seed for the Region 1 tournament, and will host No. 4 Post Falls in a first-round match Saturday.
“I’m just so pleased with our girls,” Lake City coach Jenna Leggat said. “We have a lot of excellent pieces, and it’s so great to put things together like we did. I told them, you guys just have to stay focused on the process.”
Coeur d’Alene (16-9, 3-2) concludes league play Thursday at Lewiston (22-7, 2-3). Those two teams will meet again Saturday in the first round of the regional tournament, at the higher seed. Coeur d’Alene beat Lewiston 3-1 earlier this season.
Coeur d’Alene led 20-18 in a tightly contested first set before Lake City scored five straight points, two on back-to-back aces by Kaufman, to take control of the first set. On set point, setter Klaire Mitchell eschewed the set, and instead turned and cranked the ball to the floor for a kill.
Lake City held a slim lead throughout the second set, with Viking errors the difference. Coeur d’Alene’s errors mounted in the third set as the Timberwolves cruised.
“We started off the match executing pretty well,” Coeur d’Alene coach Dee Pottenger said. “Lake City finished cleaner (at) the end of the first set, and we never really got anything going after that. Way too many errors, and certainly not the team that we think we are right now. I just think that we could never really get back into it after that first set, for whatever reason. It’s an important match, and the girls knew that, and I think maybe some overthinking took place, which affected their play.”
Mitchell finished with 18 assists for Lake City. Ashley Reyes and Reilley Chapman had eight digs each. Sophomore Tessa Sarff (three blocks) and Chloe Knudson (two aces) also shined.
Ali Williams had 12 kills and 13 assists for Coeur d’Alene. Kelly Horning had 10 kills and three blocks, Isabella Hollibaugh 14 assists, Sam Swayze 11 digs, Delaney Schmidt six.
“I thought our serves, for the most part, were really aggressive,” Leggat said. “We were able to take them out of system. We capitalized on weaknesses that we saw ... but from a coach’s standpoint, there are always things we can work on.”
Lake City has lost just one match all season — to Lewiston at the season-opening Lewiston tournament. Because of sickness and injuries, Leggat opted to send her junior varsity to the Linda Sheridan Classic last weekend in Spokane, and said she was “so pleased” with the squad’s 2-4 showing against many of the top teams in the region.
“I just felt that we needed the rest, more so than to just go out and play,” Leggat said.
Lake City plays host to Lakeland on Thursday.