COEUR d'ALENE - Volleyball has been, and always will be, a game where wild momentum swings are possible.

And that certainly was the case Tuesday night, where the No. 2 seed Lake City Timberwolves started strong, hit a lull in the middle, then found themselves when it mattered most to beat the visiting and third-seeded Coeur d'Alene Vikings 25-16, 23-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-10 in the semifinals of the 5A Region 1 tournament.

However, analysis of this match sounded like it came from a psychologist, rather than from coaches and players.

"I don't know," Lake City coach Bret Taylor said. "The big thing about it is, they really figured out that when they believe in themselves, and they believe in each other, they can accomplish things, and things go better for them. When they get upset with themselves, and hold onto it, they don't play as well, and I think that's what that match was about. One side would get happy and excited, and one side would hold their errors against themselves. I believe we were just fortunate at the end of that match to be able to celebrate the things that we were doing right."

Lake City (21-7) travels to No. 1 seed and defending state champion Lewiston (30-1) in the championship match Thursday at 7 p.m. The winner advances to state. Coeur d'Alene (19-11) plays host to No. 4 Post Falls (12-24) at that same time in a loser-out match. The two remaining teams play Saturday for the region's second berth to state.

Lake City won the first game fairly easily, and led 10-3 in the second game before Coeur d'Alene took over momentum, winning the second and third games. The Vikings led 10-7 in the fourth game but couldn't close it out.

Still, Coeur d'Alene led 6-1 in the fifth game, before Lake City ran off seven straight points on the serve of junior outside hitter Natalie Taylor. Lake City never gave up the lead, and a tip kill by setter Kaity Widmyer - in just her second match back after being out with a concussion - won the match for the Timberwolves.

"We just really had to push, and believe in ourselves that we could win," said Natalie Taylor, granddaughter of the head coach. "I think we doubted ourselves at times, but then we realized that we can do it, we just need to believe in each other, as well as ourselves ... If we don't play hard the entire time, that's when we have our weak spots. When we play hard and we play aggressively, and don't let anything touch the ground, that's when we dominate."

Haile Watson had 17 kills and six blocks for Lake City, including two big kills to go with a couple blocks during that decisive run in the fifth game. Taylor finished with 15 kills and 14 digs. Kasey Widmyer had eight kills and 21 digs, Madi Farrell eight kills and 19 digs. Kaity Widmyer had 22 assists and nine digs, CC Cates 19 assists and eight digs.

"What it came down to was, our will and our fight at the end," Bret Taylor said. "The thing that we struggled with was serve-receive. They served us very tough, and our serve-receive started to believe that we couldn't pass that ball, so I'm glad that we turned it around and decided that we could."

Megan Ramseyer had 17 kills, 23 assists and six aces for Coeur d'Alene. Sydney Williams had 17 kills and three blocks, and came up big late in the third game. Miranda Miller had 11 digs.

"We just didn't work our hardest at the very end," Sydney Williams said. "We could have pushed and beat them, but we just let it slip through our fingers. But we're ready to battle them again on Saturday."

Lewiston swept Lake City during both matches in 5A Inland Empire League play.

"When we played them down there before, we didn't have Kaity," Taylor said. "And we were able, for two of the games, to play them to 22. So, they're an awfully good team, and they're very disciplined, and they play the ball so consistently, that we're going to have to play really, really well ... but anything can happen."

Lewiston d. Post Falls: Brenna Meehan had nine kills, 13 assists and three blocks for the visiting Trojans in a 25-23, 25-19, 25-16 loss to the Bengals at Booth Hall. Amanda Westlake had nine kills, Brooke Sausser three aces for Post Falls.