5A REGION 1 VOLLEYBALL: Repairs made — Post Falls fixes things after last match, beats Lake City for second straight regional title

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

COEUR d’ALENE — After a disappointing four-set loss at Lake City less than two weeks ago with the Inland Empire League title on the line, the Post Falls Trojans went back into the shop.

The repairs were part physical, part mental.

The result was a much cleaner performance by Post Falls in a decisive 25-20, 26-24, 25-16 over Lake City on Tuesday night in the 5A Region 1 volleyball championship match at Lake City High.

“After the last match, we went back to the gym and broke down some techniques,” Post Falls coach Willow Hanna said. “We struggled with passing, and we struggled with serving … we went back to the gym and worked on skills. We have also worked real hard this season on our mental and our emotional game — what we need from each individual person to perform better as a team.”

Post Falls (24-6), which played in its third straight regional championship match, and captured its second straight regional title, advances to state Oct. 28-29 at Skyline High in Idaho Falls. The Trojans were third in 5A in the final regular season MaxPreps rankings, but won’t know their seed for state for a few days.

That’s because Lake City (18-4), which is ranked second, has to win two win-or-go-home matches to advance to state. The Timberwolves will play host to Coeur d’Alene (17-9) on Thursday at 6 p.m. in a loser-out match. That winner advances to a state play-in match Saturday at Grangeville.

Third-seeded Coeur d’Alene eliminated fourth seed Lewiston (4-12) with a 22-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-20 win on Tuesday night at Viking Court.

Post Falls d. Lake City: Junior setter/right side hitter Kylie Munday, who has verbally committed to the University of San Diego, totaled 13 kills, 17 assists, 10 digs and three aces for the Trojans, who won a couple of tightly contested sets to go up 2-0, then breezed through the third as errors began to take their toll on the Timberwolves.

“I think we played extremely well,” Munday said. “It was just a different energy; a different vibe, even from the start of the school day, we were all so hyped, and the energy was so different than normal. I feel like we really came together as a team, and clicked.”

Jenna Sarff and Trinity Byrne had eight kills each for Post Falls. Carleen Codd had 15 assists, Sam Anderson three blocks, Maleah Wilhelm two blocks, Lexi Norisada and Vanessa Kison 10 digs each, Maddie Brazee three aces.

“Just our mental game; that’s all that changed,” Post Falls senior right side hitter Shauna Cozza said. “Like, not letting yourself get down, because it affects the whole team; finding good in every play."

Senior Aubrey Stennett had 13 kills and 12 assists for Lake City, which was bidding for its first regional title since 2018. Ella Hosfeld had 14 assists and 12 digs, Allie Bowman 10 digs, Emberlyn Reynolds six kills.

“Two state-caliber teams duking it out,” said Lake City coach Michelle Kleinberg, whose team took the play-in route to state last year. “They (the Trojans) played phenomenal; they didn’t give us much, and it was their night. They took a lot of big swings when they had the opportunity, and we were doing our best to hang with them, and we never really had the momentum to pull ahead.

“They had strong offense all the way across the net. Obviously when we prepare for them we’re preparing for Kylie, but their other outsides and hitters had great swings, and got us out of system a whole lot more often.”

Coeur d’Alene d. Lewiston: Madi Symons had 30 kills for the Vikings, ranked seventh by MaxPreps. Bailey Jaworski finished with 32 assists, 12 digs, two aces and a block, setting a 5-1 offense for part of the match as Coeur d’Alene switched from a 6-2 offense because “it wasn’t flowing as well as it should,” Viking coach Carly Curtis said.

“Our ball control got better, our serve-receive stepped up. We were scrappy and we got our offense going,” Curtis said.

Curtis said Paisley Goings had a nice all-around match with eight kills “and passed well, and dug well.”

Gracie Legg had 17 digs, Elizabeth Hardy six assists, Gia Janke four aces, Alexa Stavros two aces.