Lumberjacks live it up

The St. Maries High volleyball team doesn’t make any effort to disguise its offense.

The Lumberjacks’ first option, second option and third option is junior outside hitter Shawna Heath. They have other capable hitters, but when St. Maries needs a big kill the ball is going to be set to Heath.

The 5-foot-10 Heath had a match-high 21 kills Tuesday as the Intermountain League champion Lumberjacks topped Timberlake 25-18, 25-20, 23-25, 25-18 to claim the 3A District I championship at The Arena at Post Falls High School.

St. Maries (24-5) moves on to the state tournament, which will be held Oct. 27-28 at Wendell.

Priest River (10-12), which went 1-7 in league and tied for last place, knocked off Timberlake (15-13) in the loser-out match 25-19, 19-25, 26-24, 25-21 to stay alive for a state berth. The Spartans will take on the District III runner-up in a play-in match Saturday at Grangeville High School.

In the title match, Heath was all over the court, swatting kills from many angles and distances. A left-side hitter, Heath took swings from the right and was especially effective with back-row attacks.

With the first game tied at 14-all, Heath had three of her six kills moments later that propelled the Lumberjacks to a 20-17 lead. Junior middle hitter Kim Sather, St. Maries’ other effective force with 12 kills, secured the opening game with back-to-back kills.

St. Maries pulled away faster in the second game, but had to withstand a brief Timberlake rally before going up 2-0.

But in the third game, Timberlake fought back despite Heath getting 11 kills. St. Maries coach Jamie Sloper couldn’t help but think that the Tigers were going to defeat the Lumberjacks for a third straight year in the final.

In the fourth game, though, the Lumberjacks righted themselves. Trailing 12-11, St. Maries ran off seven straight points, and the Tigers couldn’t recover.

“Michelle (Guidry) and Shawna (Heath) have been clicking really well this year,” St. Maries coach Jamie Sloper said of her setter and top hitter. “Shawna’s by far our go-to player. Kim Sather did great. She ended up being our go-to player when Shawna was in the back row.”

Sloper thought the win in the fourth game was key to avoid an anything-is-possible deciding fifth game.

“If Timberlake would have got the fourth game, it would have been a tough fifth game for us,” Sloper said.

Heath thought St. Maries’ win was one of its best this season.

“I think this is our best one because we’ve been trying for two years to beat Timberlake and we finally did,” Heath said.

“Priest River rode the balanced hitting of Stephanie Robertson, Molly Blankenship and Lacy Hopkins over Timberlake.

In the first game, the Spartans outscored the Tigers 10-2 in the middle to build a 22-14 lead. But tough back-to-back serves by Shelby Hatfield, including an ace on game point, gave the Spartans the first game.

Timberlake evened it up in the second. In the third, the Tigers led 24-23 but couldn’t put the Spartans away. A kill by Robertson and an error by the Tigers gave Priest River a 2-1 lead.

An ace by Hopkins put the Spartans ahead 14-8 in the final game. Timberlake rallied, pulling within 24-21. But a dink by Hopkins extended the Spartans’ season one more match.

Robertson had a team-high nine kills and Hopkins and Blankenship each had eight.

Tarra Tymesen led the Tigers with 18 kills against Priest River and 15 against St. Maries.