St. Maries wins twice, for district title
GENESEE — St. Maries bounced back from a Monday night loss to Orofino, beating the Maniacs twice on Tuesday to capture the 2A District 1-2 title.
Kaylee Auer had 11 kills and Dakotah Wilks 29 assists for the Lumberjacks in a 25-23, 25-19, 25-19 win over the Maniacs in the district championship match to advance to state starting next Friday at Lakeland High in Rathdrum.
“Last night (Monday), we lost to Orofino in five and weren’t playing where we needed to,” second-year St. Maries coach Rachele Asbury said. “We knew coming in we had to play solid and work as a team. We started slow and realized it was going to happen again. It just came down to doing whatever it takes to get the win tonight.”
Elizabeth Ragan had 11 digs for St. Maries (21-12), which opens with the District 3 runner-up next Friday at 11 a.m. in the opening round.
Earlier, Wilks had 38 assists, two blocks and three aces for the Lumberjacks in a 20-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-18 win over Orofino to force an if-necessary championship match.
“Dakotah was flying all over the court and picked up the intensity from the previous night for sure,” Asbury said. “We played hard when we needed it to count for sure.”
Auer had 11 kills, Devyn Wilson nine digs and McKenna Borgman nine digs for St. Maries in the first match on Tuesday.
Sandpoint d.
Lakeland
SANDPOINT — Grace Hicks totaled 14 kills, including two final rips to close the fifth set, and a pair of late defensive gems helped the No. 2 seed Bulldogs beat the No. 3 Hawks 25-22, 19-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-10 in the loser-out match of the 4A Region 1 volleyball tournament on Tuesday night at Les Rogers Court.
Sandpoint (14-17) travels to top-seeded Moscow on Thursday to determine the region’s lone berth to state.
Led by some dominant net play by Mattisyn Cope, the Hawks (13-20) showed some grit and came back twice to tie the match at two sets apiece, and were right there to win it late in the fifth set.
Sophomore setter Keely DeVore, 6-foot-3 freshman Katy Ryan and freshman Leyah de Souza helped put their team in a position to win, and represent a bright future for the Hawks.
“They showed some desire to win. We missed a couple things here and there on defense, and we got killed on the pass,” said Hawks head coach Adriano de Souza, praising Sandpoint in defeat. “They’re tall, big blockers, with really good serving.”
Cope had 12 kills, four blocks and seven digs for Lakeland. Ryan had five blocks, Leya de Souza four aces and nine kills, DeVore 38 assists, Daphne Carroll eight kills.
Timberlake d.
Priest River
BONNERS FERRY — Kylie Marneris had 12 digs, Caitlin Garwood six kills for the Tigers in a 26-24, 25-15, 25-12 win over the Spartans in the opening round of the 3A District 1 tournament at Bonners Ferry High.
McKeeley Tonkin had 12 assists, Taylor Suko three aces, Ashlyn Mallet two blocks and Graci Allen two blocks for Timberlake (15-17), which faces Bonners Ferry (11-3) in the championship match on Thursday at 7 p.m. Priest River (6-10)plays Kellogg in a loser-out match Thursday at 5:30.
N.I. Christian d.
Christian Center
HAYDEN — The Royals beat the Lions 25-20, 25-18, 25-23 in a Mountain Christian League match.
Statistics were not available.
North Idaho Christian (11-7, 7-4 MCL) travels to Covenant Christian of Spokane on Thursday.
Christian Center is 4-9, 3-9.