COEUR d’ALENE — After the first day of the state 5A volleyball tournament, the Lake City Timberwolves are in a place they haven’t been in a while.

But it’s a place they thought would be.

The Timberwolves overcame nerves in the first match to beat Rocky Mountain of Meridian 22-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-13, 15-12, then rolled to a sweep (25-21, 25-22, 25-17) of Madison of Rexburg in the second match on Friday at Coeur d’Alene High, to advance to the state semifinal today.

“The first game was a little tense, and the crowd really helped. But then this game we were able to relax and play our normal game,” Lake City junior setter Klaire Mitchell said.

Lake City (30-1), in the semifinal match for the first time since 2011, will play defending champion Bonneville (38-4) of Idaho Falls, which beat Centennial and Eagle

“We just have to refocus and do it again,” first-year Lake City coach Mike Summers said. “As we go, it’s going to take more to get it done.”

Post Falls, at state for the first time since 2012, played a week’s worth of volleyball in one day, and put its fans through an emotional wringer.

The Trojans dropped a heartbreaker to 5A Southern Idaho Conference champion Eagle 25-17, 28-26, 23-25, 22-25, 15-7 in the opener, then bounced back to rout Centennial 25-4, 25-20, 25-11. Friday night, not long after Madison lost to Lake City, Post Falls jumped on Madison early, but the Bobcats bounced back to eliminate the Trojans 17-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-19, 15-13 and secure a trophy for a top-four finish.

“It was a rollercoaster day,” second-year Post Falls coach Matt Barkley said. “Madison battled back after we handled them in the first set. We had a lot of grit, and our seniors (Allison Munday, Macky Morris, Sydney Parks and Kalli Minden) did an outstanding job today. It was a rollercoaster season, and an up-and-down tournament.”

Lake City: Against Madison, Lake City senior outside hitter Arlaina Stephenson had nine of her 15 kills in the first set. But it wasn’t totally by design.

“We were in the wrong rotation,” said Mitchell, noting middle blocker Kaitlin Hunter and right side hitter Kate DuCoeur were accidentally switched in the lineup. “We were just trying to get through the first game so we could go back to normal rotation.”

Lake City made do nicely, holding a slim lead throughout the first set, then rolling in the next two for a 25-21, 25-22, 25-17 victory.

“That first match we had a slow start and had to battle some unforced errors,” Summers said. “Against Madison we played more of our tempo, which Madison seemed to struggle with. And better defense in generally, and unforced errors were way down from the first game.”

Ashley Kaufman, the other outside hitter, had 10 kills, three aces and two blocks for Lake City. Mitchell finished with 34 assists, Ashley Reyes 16 digs, Chloe Knudson two aces, Zion Nelson two blocks.

Lake City caught a bit of a break when Madison upended Timberline, the District 3 champion, in the first round. Lake City beat Timberline in the finals of the Rocky Mountain tournament last month.

But Bonneville, the defending champion, lies ahead.

“I just think we have to play our game and stick together, and see what tomorrow brings,” Stephenson said.

Earlier, Lake City was in danger of falling behind 2 sets to none against Rocky, but scored the last seven points of the second set, capped by an ace bt Kaufman, to even the match.

Lake City led throughout much of the third set before losing, then breezed through the fourth set and opened up an 8-0 lead and held on in the final set.

“In the two (sets) that we lost we had way too many unforced errors,” first-year Lake City coach Mike Summers said. “Credit Rocky, they were scrappy, they came at us, they weren’t scared of us, they wanted us. I was just really proud of our girls, how we persevered and fought back, and really stuck together. Being down like we were, we could have folded, we could have started squabbling with each other, but they stuck together, and challenged each other.”

Stephenson had 15 kills, Kaufman and Mitchell nine each for Lake City. Mitchell also had 33 assists, 15 digs and four aces, Stephenson five blocks, Kaufman five aces, Reyes 16 digs, Knudson 13 digs.

Rocky had a wealth of hitters, led by Mikayla Moorhouse (11 kills), Ciara Dlugosch (7), Hannah Belveal (6), Maddi Taylor (6) and Sarah Lyons (6). But the Grizzlies were more effective hitting earlier in the match than later.

“I think we started getting some touches in the later sets, and their hitters started making some hitting errors, and they started chipping and rolling over our blocks, which was effective, too, but then we made some adjustments and started digging those up, too,” Summers said.

Whereas, Lake City kept pounding away.

“I think we started to tighten up a little bit, maybe weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be,” Rocky coach Judyann Balukoff said. “I think during the fourth set, they (the Timberwolves) had a couple of calls that actually went against them, and I felt like that got them fired up. And then we struggled to sideout for maybe 5-10 points and they went on a roll after that.”

Post Falls: In its first match, Post Falls fell behind 2 sets to none, then took the momentum by winning the next two sets. But in the deciding set, Eagle jumped out to leads of 5-1 and 12-4, and that was that.

“That’s volleyball for you,” Barkley said. “Volleyball, momentum goes up and down, we’ve experienced that a lot this season, we got off to a slow start in that fifth set. ... there’s not much room for error.”

Morris had 14 kills, Munday 13 kills, Parks 12 for Post Falls. Kayla Mayo had 25 assists and 10 digs, Courtney Finney 19 assists and 14 digs, and both earned praise from Barkley for their defensive play. Tessa Sarff had six blocks, Parks 4.

“I thought we matched up well with (Eagle),” Barkley said. “Their No. 10 (Emily Greer, a 6-foot outside hitter) was just pounding the ball at us. I thought we did a good job of isolating her, in battling back. I thought we had some nerves at the beginning, but we settled in.”

It was Eagle’s first win at state since 2009, when the Mustangs won their fourth straight state title.

Not long after falling to Eagle, Post Falls came back and ousted Centennial. Munday and Parks each had 10 kills, Mayo 16 assists, Finney 14, Morris had 27 digs, Parks four blocks, Sarff three aces, Munday two.

Morris “struggled in serve-receive early, but then she dialed it back in and passed nails in the third set,” Barkley said. “Sydney and Tess really controlled the middle.”

In the third match, Munday led the way with 20 kills, Tessa Sarff and Morris 12 each. Mayo had 26 assists and four aces, Finney 21 assists, Sarff four blocks, Morris 15 digs.

“We battled hard,” said Munday, who has verbally committed to Idaho. “We definitely played with no regrets.”