Lake City loses twice, settles for third

NAMPA — It was a pretty incredible run for the Lake City High volleyball team, as second-year coach Mike Summers put it.

Saturday just wasn’t the day for the Timberwolves.

Lake City, which fought through a pair of five-set wins on Friday to advance to the state 5A volleyball semifinals at Ridgevue High, came up short to Madison of Rexburg 25-15, 18-25, 25-15, 14-25, 17-15 in the semifinal match Saturday, then a short time later came up short in a loss to Skyview of Nampa 19-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-19, 15-6 to finish third at state.

“We fought all the way until the end, but just kind of ran out of gas,” Summers said. “Each match we played down here (at state), it took a lot out of the kids. They were just physically drained, but they battled and fought the entire way.”

Lake City took a 2-1 lead on Skyview after three sets, but saw the Hawks, who moved up to 5A this year, take the final two to advance to the championship, where they lost to Madison.

“We had some chances to put the match away,” Summers said. “But it just wasn’t our day today. It just didn’t work out.”

Lake City finished 31-3 after posting the same record in 2017, finishing runner-up at state to Bonneville of Idaho Falls. Bonneville dropped down to 4A this year, where the Bees finished second to Century.

“Coming home with a trophy is a great accomplishment,” Summers said. “We’ve got nothing to hang our heads about. To go 31-3, it’s been a pretty incredible season. It’s disappointing, but we’re satisfied coming home with something. Our seniors have done a great job all season long doing everything they could and never gave up.”

Against Skyview, senior Ashley Kaufman had 29 kills, 20 digs, three blocks and two aces, junior Janae Rayborn 17 kills, senior Klaire Mitchell 48 assists and 18 digs and senior Reilley Chapman 24 digs for Lake City.

“I thought we played pretty well and fought for every point,” Kaufman said. “I knew it was going to be my last match with a lot of these players, so we went all out and left it all on the court. We came down here to prove a point, It’s not what we expected, but we still played really well.”

Chapman had 29 digs for Lake City against Madison in the semifinals.

“Against Madison, they had a pretty big block and it took us some time to adjust,” Chapman said. “When we were able to play to our tempo, it worked out well for us.”

Kaufman had 16 kills and six aces, Rayborn 16 kills, senior Claire Heberer six blocks, sophomore Tanai Jenkins five blocks and Mitchell 41 assists for Lake City against Madison.

“That was a championship-type match,” Summers said. “There was a lot of momentum swings. In that fifth set, we had some chances to put it away and we let it get away. But it was a great match.”