PREP VOLLEYBALL: Lakeland wins third straight regional title
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 2 months, 1 week AGO
LEWISTON — A second seed and a long road trip weren’t going to prevent the Lakeland Hawks from winning another regional volleyball title.
Senior Alyssa Ryckmann had 15 kills, 28 digs and three aces as Lakeland knocked off the top-seeded Lewiston Bengals 20-25, 25-18, 25-22, 23-25, 15-12 to win the 5A Region 1 championship Tuesday night.
“Alyssa came alive tonight, making a strong return after battling through injuries,” Lakeland coach Kelsie Badger said. “Our defense was relentless, leading to several long rallies and key momentum swings.”
Lakeland (15-12) won its third straight regional title, and advances to state Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at Timberline High in Boise.
Lewiston (16-8) will play host to No. 4 seed Moscow (14-14) on Thursday in a loser-out match. Moscow swept No. 3 Sandpoint (7-12) in a loser-out match at Sandpoint. Lewiston needed five sets to beat Moscow at home in the first round last Saturday.
Junior Raygen Dutton added 10 kills and three blocks for Lakeland. Freshman Jaeli Hoffman had 23 assists, junior Kindell Day 22 assists, junior Jolie Warren 26 digs, senior Chloe Neff 24 digs, sophomore Anabel Bowie five blocks for the Hawks.
Badger praised Lewiston’s grit and scrappy defense, and noted her team had huge moments down the stretch and found momentum at the right time to close out the match.
“Jaeli and Kindell did an excellent job controlling the offense and came through with big swings when it mattered most,” Badger said. “Anabel and Raygen made their presence known at the net with aggressive stuff blocks, and Raygen added several nice kills to keep the energy high. Our serve receive was among our best performances of the season, paired with aggressive serving that kept Lewiston on its heels.”
Lakeland will learn its first-round opponent at state this weekend. The Hawks are ranked sixth in 5A by MaxPreps, which is used to seed teams at state.
Kellogg d.
Orofino
KELLOGG — Senior Dani Henrikson had eight kills and two blocks for the top-seeded Wildcats in a 25-12, 25-8, 25-10 sweep of the fourth-seeded Maniacs in a semifinal match in the 3A District 1-2 tournament at Andrews Gymnasium.
“It was a great team effort tonight,” Kellogg coach Hollie Yrjana said. “We came in and played sharp after a week off.”
Kellogg (23-1) advances to faces Priest River (15-2) in the championship match at Andrews Gymnasium on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. The second-seeded Spartans beat third-seeded Grangeville 3-1 in the other semifinal at Priest River High on Tuesday. Orofino (9-10) faces Grangeville (10-12) in a loser-out game on Thursday at 7:30 in Kellogg.
Freshman Gretah Angle had seven kills and 11 digs, junior Paige Yrjana 13 digs, three blocks and four kills, sophomore Ella Yrjana five kills, 10 aces and sophomore Aleah Philp four kills for Kellogg.