STATE 5A VOLLEYBALL: Post Falls rolls into semis for second straight year

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

COEUR d’ALENE — Just like last year, the Post Falls Trojans won twice on the first day of the state 5A volleyball tournament, to advance to the semifinal match.

Post Falls, the No. 3 seed, defeated No. 6 Timberline of Boise 25-21, 19-25, 25-23, 25-20, then downed No. 7 Rocky Mountain of Meridian 25-15, 25-18, 25-13 on Friday at Lake City High.

The Trojans (32-6) will play top seed and defending champion Madison (27-5) of Rexburg today at 11 a.m. for a berth in the finals of the double-elimination tournament.

“I think these kids really respond to competition,” Post Falls coach Willow Hanna said. “They’re here to compete this weekend, and you can tell that … just hope we keep it rolling into tomorrow.”

Meanwhile Coeur d’Alene, which won the Region 1 championship last week, went 1-2 on Friday and finished tied for fifth, one win short of a trophy.

The second-seeded Vikings dropped their tourney opener to Rocky Mountain 28-26, 22-25, 25-17, 25-21. Coeur d’Alene bounced back to beat Timberline 25-23, 25-15, 25-21, then was eliminated by Eagle 25-19, 25-19, 22-25, 25-15.

The Vikings finished 22-8.

“This isn’t the end of the season that we wanted, but honestly, I’m proud of these girls,” Coeur d’Alene coach Carly Curtis said. “They fought; sometimes things didn’t go their way, but I felt like we gave it our all, and all the girls played their hardest, and that’s all I can ask from them.”

Post Falls

The Trojans had to do a little adjusting early in their first match, vs. Timberline. 

Freshman Lucy Carr, one of Post Falls’ two setters in a 6-2 offense, entered concussion protocol Thursday when “she took a hit to the head outside of volleyball,” Hanna said.

Post Falls switched to a 5-1 with Kylie Munday, the University of San Diego commit, setting all the way around, instead of her usual setter/right side hitter duties,.

Munday tallied 47 assists vs. Timberline and 26 more vs. Rocky.

And the other hitters stepped up. Senior Jenna Sarff had 27 kills on the day, 16 vs. Timberline, and junior Trinity Byrne had 26 kills, 15 vs. Timberline.

“I think the 5-1 works really well, and I trust Kylie,” Sarff said. “We want to make it to the championship, and we’re ready for that. We just wanted to come out and show them who we are, and win the first two and that’s what we did.”

Munday also had 11 kills and four blocks vs. Rocky Mountain. Junior Vanessa Kison had 10 digs and three aces, junior Kaela Gump three blocks and two aces, junior libero Lexi Norisada two aces.

“I think we really attacked their serve-receive; we served really well that game, and we adjusted well to their defense, so we could place shots where we needed to to score,” Hanna said, “We just kept them out of system with our serving. We got a lot of free balls back, and our outside hitters were quick to adjust that game. I’m very proud of Vanessa and Trinity for making some adjustments fast, so they could score.”

“Post Falls does a nice job,” Rocky coach Judyann Balukoff said. “They serve well, they pass well, they’re a pretty scrappy team. We just got discouraged because we weren’t putting balls away.”

In the first match, Sarff also had 16 digs and three aces for Post Falls. Munday also had two blocks and 19 digs, senior Maleah Wilhelm five blocks, Gump three aces.

“I feel like we stayed really aggressive, continued to attack, and made smart shots when we needed to,” Hanna said. “Our team worked really well together.”

“We knew that they would have a lot of things coming at us,” Timberline coach Carol Klein said. “We were prepared, but they’re a really powerful, good team. We knew what we were getting into, because we’ve seen them before.”

Last year, Post Falls lost to Madison in the semifinal, then fell to Timberline in the third-place match.

This year, the Trojans are sleeping in their own beds … and they’re more healthy,

“Last year, we had a lot of kids in the training room by the time Saturday morning game,” Hanna said. ”So I feel like we’re in a different place physically, as we come into Saturday, And I think the kids are hungry; they want to go further than they did last year. So, we’re ready.”

Coeur d’Alene

A lot of tears were shed when the last point fall — especially from the seven seniors, who helped the Vikings back to state for the first time since 2020.

“I just love these girls so much; they made my senior year so special,” said Coeur d’Alene senior defensive specialist Alexa Stavros, trying to hold back said tears. “It’s so special; us seven seniors have played together on club teams for years, so I think we were just loving on each other. I think we just fought to the end, and it just didn’t go our way. 

Against Eagle, junior Paisley Goings had nine kills, 10 digs and two blocks for Coeur d’Alene. Senior Bailey Jaworski had 14 assists, 10 digs and three aces, junior Lizzy Hardy 10 assists, sophomore Gianna Callari seven kills and five blocks, junior Kaydence Greensix kills and three blocks, senior Olivia Naccarato three blocks, senior Gia Janke two blocks, junior Gracie Legg 19 digs, Stavtos four aces.

“I think it was just consistency,” Curtis said. “There were some times where we let three or four points in a row go, and you just can’t do that at this level. Every team is here is awesome; you have to make sure you’re getting a stop within two points, so you can at least stay in it. We felt like we had to battle back and battle back when we let that happen. We did some great things on our blocks, we had some great digs, it was just a matter of being consistent.”

In the first match, Goings had 18 kills and 12 digs for Coeur d’Alene. Naccarato had seven kills and eight blocks, Green six kills, Callari five blocks,Jaworski 18 assists, Hardy 14 assists, Stavros 12 digs and four aces, Legg 31 digs.

“It was definitely a realization that this is state, and none of our girls had been here before,” Curtis said. “I’ve got to give it to Rocky, they dug a lot of our hits, and they kept putting the ball right back on us. Normally, a lot of those hits that go down for us, they did a good job defensively, getting them up, that gets a little frustrating for our hitters.”

For Rocky Mountain, sophomore London Armstrong had 11 kills, soph Chloe Hansen 10 kills, seniors Anna Dabell and Aubrey Evans nine kills each.

“We had not played them or seen them all year, so it was kind of a mystery,” said Rocky Mountain coach Judyann Balukoff, in her second year in her second stint with the Grizzlies, and sixth overall. We just tried to focus on our side of the net — can we serve well, can we pass well, because we feel like we can hang with almost anybody if we do that. We tried to keep the ball away from the libero (Legg), because she’s really good. That was probably the biggest thing.”

Against Timberline, Legg had 18 digs and three aces, senior Maddie Mitchell seven kills, Stavros 12 digs, Goings 13 digs, 12 kills and three blocks, Hardy 17 assists, Jaworski 21 assists and 12 digs, Naccarato 10 kills and five blocks, Callari seven kills and three blocks, Green three blocks.

“I’m going to send my seniors off being proud of them,” Curtis said. “And I’m hopeful for next year, because I think we have a good group coming up, and we have good group still on varsity. I’m excited for next year, and proud of the girls this year.”

    MARK NELKE/Press Kaydence Green of Coeur d'Alene hits past Chloe Hansen of Rocky Mountain in the first round of the state 5A volleyball tournament Friday at Lake City High.