REGIONAL/DISTRICT VOLLEYBALL: Genesis Prep on to state

COEUR d’ALENE — In their 10th year as a member of the Idaho High School Activities Association, the Genesis Prep Jaguars are headed to their first state volleyball tournament. 

“We finally got it,” seventh-year Genesis Prep coach Paula Thurston said after the top-seeded Jaguars defeated the second-seeded Wallace Miners 17-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 15-6 to win the 2A District 1 championship Thursday night at North Idaho College. 

“I’m so proud of the girls,” Thurston added. “We worked so hard for so long for this. It’s an incredible feeling.” 

Genesis Prep (13-9) advances to the state 2A tournament Oct. 31-Nov. 2 at Jerome High. The Jaguars will likely learn their first-round opponent on Sunday.

“It was literally the best feeling I could fathom,” senior middle blocker Laya Daniels said of the feeling of match point. “It’s like the most exciting thing ever.” 

Daniels finished with 10 kills, six aces and two blocks. 

Genesis Prep, which swept Wallace (13-9) in the semifinal round on Saturday. trailed two sets to one in the championship match, and was down 17-12 in the fourth set. Had Wallace won, the teams would have played a second championship match Saturday at The Courts at Real Life in Post Falls. 

But the Jaguars stormed back to win the fourth set, then jumped out to a big lead early in the deciding set, and the party was on. 

“This is what we’ve wanted since our freshman year,” said senior outside hitter Madi Cooper, who had 16 kills, 16 digs and five aces. “This year we finally made it, and it’s just not real; it’s so exciting.” 

Senior Ella Martin had 10 digs, seven kills and two blocks for Genesis Prep. Senior Sienna Williams had eight kills and five blocks, senior Kennedy Prendergast six kills, senior Kinzie Lawler three kills and three blocks, junior Natalya Young four digs. 

“It was like the most special feeling ever,” said senior libero Pearl Covey who had 33 digs. “We’ve been working so hard for this for four years, and we finally got the opportunity to show all of our skills, and work as a team. And now we’re going to state.” 

Lakeland  

pushed to deciding match 

at 5A regionals

RATHDRUM — With a chance to punch their ticket to state with a pair of wins Thursday night, the top-seeded Lakeland Hawks were upset by the second-seeded Lewiston Bengals 25-22, 19-25, 25-23, 17-25, 15-11 in the first match of the 5A Region 1 best-of-3 championship series at Hawk Court. 

With its season on the line in the second match, Lakeland bounced back to beat Lewiston 25-20, 25-13, 20-25, 25-19 to force a winner-take-all third match for the regional title Saturday at 6 p.m. at Lakeland. 

“It ultimately wasn’t our night and we struggled to maintain momentum and had too many unforced errors,” said Lakeland coach Kelsie Badger, whose team beat Lewiston 3-1 and 3-0 during league play. “We showed flashes of our usual intensity but couldn’t hold off Lewiston in the first game tonight.” 

In the first match, Ziya Munyer had 17 kills and three blocks for Lakeland. Landree Simon added 13 kills, Olivia Zazuetta 44 assists, Addy Jo Hocking 24 digs, Chloe Neff two aces. 

In the second match, Munyer had 16 kills and four blocks. Simon had 11 kills, Zazuetta 38 assists, Hocking 17 digs, Alyssa Ryckman three aces. 

"We were able to come together for the second game and we are determined to learn from this experience do better on Saturday," Badger said.

Coeur du Christ d. 

Kootenai  

COEUR d’ALENE — The Saints, in their first year as full member of the Idaho High School Activities Association, moved one step closer to a state 1A berth, beating the Warriors 25-20, 25-21, 25-6 in the District 1 championship match at North Idaho College. 

“We had a great win against Kootenai and got to play in a big and loud environment at NIC,” Coeur du Christ coach Natalie Kiefer said. “The girls thought it was a fun space and it really filled up toward the end of the match.” 

Junior Madeline Junkin had 12 kills, junior Ava Owens 16 assists and senior Emma Anderson three aces for Coeur du Christ (8-6), which faces St. John Bosco (9-14) in a state play-in match on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Coeur d’Alene High. 

“Madeline had some very powerful kills with Lucy (Ross) and Josie (Zepeda) following close behind,” Kiefer said. “We are excited to get to head to the play-in game this Saturday. The girls have been looking forward to this and working so hard, and their improvement is really showing. It was also fantastic to get to end the night receiving the conference and the district trophy. Our seniors get to take those home for a few nights.” 

Kootenai finished 4-12.