RATHDRUM - After sharing the Intermountain League regular season championship, and losing the No. 1 seed to the 3A District 1 tournament on a coin flip, the Timberlake Tigers didn't want to settle for second this time around.

Timberlake rallied from a 2-games-to-1 deficit to defeat the top-seeded Priest River Spartans 20-25, 25-21, 13-25, 25-23, 15-12 in the district championship match on Thursday to advance to the state 3A tournament starting next Friday at Madison High in Rexburg.

"It's really nice for the girls," Timberlake coach Michelle Garwood said. "It was kind of frustrating to lose in the coin flip, but to come back and win the district title - which we hadn't done in a while - is good for our seniors."

Timberlake (18-11) last won the district title in 2005. St. Maries, which won the last six district tournaments, dropped to 2A this year.

"This is a great group of kids," said Garwood, who was named Intermountain League Coach of the Year after the match. "They're all very competitive and post stats throughout the board for us, which is nice because we don't have just one person we can go to."

Lexi Posch had 15 kills, seven digs and two aces, Sydnie Malloy 27 assists, three digs and two aces, Jenna Hoffman nine kills, seven assists and four digs and Cheyenne Gibson seven kills, five blocks, eight digs and two aces for Timberlake.

"It feels amazing," said Posch, a senior outside hitter. "We've worked so hard for this all year. To see how far we've come since the start of the season - it's just amazing."

Beth Bykerk had 11 kills, Kelsie Fink three blocks and six aces, Karly Douglas nine digs and Taryn Eldore 28 assists for Priest River (19-8), which bounced back later Thursday to beat Kellogg 25-18, 25-23, 25-22 in the second-place match to advance to a state play-in match Saturday in McCall at 5 p.m.

"It was a tough one for us," Priest River coach Kati Bodecker said. "I think mentally we'd split with them twice, both in five games and we match up really well with them. But unfortunately we came out a little scared and timid."

After splitting the first two games, Priest River won 25-13 in the third game and led 20-18 in the fourth before Timberlake closed the game with the final seven points.

"Unfortunately in volleyball, the momentum shifts so quickly," Bodecker said. "We had a lot of errors that aren't like us and we kind of lost that game ourselves through our errors."

Priest River d. Kellogg: Melissa Trost had 12 kills, Eldore 25 assists, Fink three blocks and Douglas 13 digs as the Spartans eliminated the third-seeded Wildcats.

Brittany Howard had 24 digs, Andee Wendt seven digs and two blocks, Taylor Samuelson 27 assists, Tarah Ivie 10 kills and Aleasha Barr 24 digs for Kellogg (9-18).

Prior to that, Kellogg eliminated Bonners Ferry in three games in a loser-out match. The Badgers finished 7-20.

ALL INTERMOUNTAIN LEAGUE TEAM

Most Valuable Player - Melissa Trost, sr., Priest River.

TIMBERLAKE - Lexi Posch, sr., Jenna Hoffman, sr., Cheyenne Gibson, sr. PRIEST RIVER - Taryn Eldore, sr., Beth Bykerk, jr., Karly Douglas, jr., Kelsie Fink, sr. KELLOGG - Taylor Samuelson, sr., Brittany Howard, sr. BONNERS FERRY - Allyson Merrifield, sr., Desirae Minor, jr.

Coach of the Year - Michelle Garwood, Timberlake.