COEUR d’ALENE — They dug and they blocked and they dove and they swung, until they just couldn’t do it anymore.

In the end, playing three high-intensity matches pretty much back-to-back-to-back — along with a talented, young-but-seasoned opponent — eventually took its toll on the Lake City Timberwolves.

The defending state champion Bonneville Bees of Idaho Falls beat Lake City 25-17, 25-22, 25-17 in the semifinal Saturday morning, then came back a couple of hours later to defeat the Timberwolves 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-14 in the championship match of the state 5A volleyball tournament at Coeur d’Alene High.

“I’m so tired,” said Lake City senior libero Ashley Reyes, who totaled 61 digs in three matches on Saturday — 29 in the title match alone. “It’s bittersweet, because we all wanted first place, but we’re still happy that we got the top two.”

Still, the runner-up showing marked the best finish ever at state for Lake City (31-3), which placed as high as third in 2003 and ’11. After entering state last year with high hopes and going out on the first day after three matches, the Timberwolves, with most of those players back, were determined to make up for it this year. The result was the program’s first appearance in the championship match.

“It’s not precisely how they saw it ending,” first-year Lake City coach Mike Summers said. “But second place, especially against a team like Bonneville, they can’t hold their heads low on that. They made ’em battle, they had to earn a lot of their points, and they really pushed them — at least the first couple of sets. The last one, we ran out of gas, based on the play schedule that we put ourselves in.”

Bonneville’s victory in the semifinal gave the Bees a couple hours of rest before the final. Meanwhile, Lake City returned to the court to face Madison of Rexburg, whom the Timberwolves swept in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon. On Saturday, the Bobcats pushed Lake City to four games before the T-Wolves prevailed 19-25, 25-15, 27-25, 25-18 as Madison (30-13) finished third.

In the championship match, Lake City and Bonneville played three sets as tight as 25-23 would indicate — Lake City actually jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first set before losing.

But fatigue began to take its toll in the fourth set. Lake City gave up 11 straight points and fell behind 17-4, and that was that.

“It was pretty tough,” said T-Wolves junior outside hitter Ashley Kaufman, who along with senior outside hitter Arlaina Stephenson battled gamely on Saturday through foot injuries sustained during Friday’s matches. “We played really hard and with a lot of energy during the second match (vs. Madison), which kind of wore us out for this last one. You could feel it, but we still did a good job of fighting ’til the end. We made ’em work for every point.”

Stephenson finished with 41 kills on the day, Kaufman 38 for Lake City. Junior setter Klaire Mitchell totaled 112 assists, as well as numerous kills on dumps and second-ball hits. She also had 32 digs in the last two matches. senior Chloe Knudson had 36 digs in the last two matches. Junior Reilley Chapman had 15 digs in the Madison match, and sophomore Janae Rayborn earned praise from Summers for her play on the right side in the championship match.

“Madison, they came at us, and were hungry for us,” Summers said of the third-place match. “That was a lot of expended energy going to four sets, and really having to work to get those points from them. And then turning around another 30 minutes later and having to face off against Bonneville again ... ”

Bonneville (40-4) won its ninth state title — all since 1991 — and won back-to-back titles for the first time. Three sophomore, three juniors and a senior formed the core of this year’s title team — and all played key roles when the Bees won state last year as well, then graduated just two seniors.

“And they’re all coming back; such a terrible problem to have,” Bonneville coach Chantal McMurtrey said with a laugh. McMurtrey, in her 13th season as head coach, won her fourth state title. As an assistant with the Bees before that, she was part of three other state titles. She’s been coaching this current group since they were anywhere from 8-11 years old. “It’s a very special group. They are the nicest kids you’ll ever meet, but so competitive, and athletically gifted. And they have a fire burning in their belly for this game. It’s a team that gives life.”

Sade Williams, a junior outside hitter, had 27 kills in the two matches against Lake City on Saturday. Makayla Sorensen, a sophomore outside hitter, also had 27 kills, 16 in the semifinal match. Sadie Lott, a sophomore middle blocker, had 20 kills.

“Bonneville, they don’t make a whole lot of unforced errors,” Summers said. “They did a little bit more the second time here, but when they needed points, they sure laid the hammer down.”

“They’re scrappy, and their No. 2 (Williams), she’s hard to read,” he added. “We just had some troubles blocking her. It’s not a traditional offense. Their hitters move around, and you have to stay on your toes blocking them.

Reyes said she could take some consolation in the fact it was Lake City’s best finish at state volleyball since the school opened in 1994. But just some.

“I’m happy, because last year at state didn’t go so well,” she said, “so to get second ... we could have easily won. We just fell short.”

“I’m real happy how hard we fought,” Kaufman said.

“They were a great team,” McMurtrey said of Lake City. “Klaire Mitchell is a very special athlete ... she was a handful. When we took our eye off her, she got us. And they’ve got some nice outside hitters that put the ball down. They made us work for it.”

McMurtrey said the difference between the two teams was “maybe because we’ve been here before. Madison took third; we played them six times this year. Our conference is pretty tough; we’re kind of used to playing some games like that.”

Timberline (19-5), which lost to Madison 16-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-16 in the first match of the day, took home the fourth-place trophy.