Sandpoint loses to Rigby in five-game thriller

The road to a repeat state championship became much longer for the Sandpoint High volleyball team Friday.

Rigby upset Sandpoint 25-19, 27-25, 19-25, 22-25, 15-3 in a marathon two-hour match as the State 4A tournament got under way at Lake City High School.

The Bulldogs rebounded five hours later, sweeping Emmett 25-18, 25-22, 25-22 in a loser-out match.

“That was a little better,” Sandpoint coach Karen Alsager allowed. “I’m happy that my team came back and beat (Emmett) in three. We can always play better, but I just want to look at one match at a time. I felt that we did what we needed to do for that match.”

Sandpoint (23-3) faces Skyview (18-1) in the first match this morning at 9. In another loser-out match, Rigby (23-19) meets Wood River (20-18).

Bonneville, the 2006 state runner-up, had no difficulties as the Bees handled Emmett 23-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-20 and Rigby 25-23, 25-12, 25-20 to pull within a win of playing for the state title. The Bees (37-4) meet Century (39-7), which topped Middleton 28-26, 25-18, 25-15 and Skyview 21-25, 25-23, 25-12, 25-18.

In the other opener, Skyview swept Wood River 25-15, 25-17, 25-21. In the other loser-out match, Wood River downed Middleton.

“Sandpoint has no choice but to follow Alsager’s admonishment of one match at a time today. Any room for error was wiped away quickly. If the Bulldogs hope to return to the state final, they must win three more elimination matches followed by two more wins if they get that far.

While the Bulldogs certainly played better in their second match, they must take their play up a notch or two today.

“Let’s have a long day tomorrow,” Alsager said.

Bulldogs sophomore outside hitter Piper Wahlin led with 14 kills. Unlike the first match, Wahlin had some offensive support. Sophomores Kaitlyn Lunde and Christina Johnson had seven and six kills, respectively. Libero Abby Helander had 14 digs.

Sandpoint closed out the first and second games on errors by Emmett, and Wahlin got match point when she forced a kill through a double block.

Per usual, though, the Bulldogs started slowly.

“What frustrates me is that I had to get in their face in the first game, pretty harsh, to get them going,” Alsager said. “It frustrates me that they can’t (get started) without me having to use that tactic. They shouldn’t need their coach to get in their face and bite that hard. But they responded.”

“In the opener, Rigby coach Jeff Selditz didn’t mind playing up the underdog role.

“Nobody thought we’d do anything. We’re big underdogs,” Selditz said. “We had to win two (loser out) play-in matches to make it here in the first place. I just wanted them to play loose and enjoy the atmosphere of playing in a state tournament.”

Play loose? The Trojans, who qualified for state for the first time since 2002, played like grizzled state veterans.

Sandpoint had to fight back just to keep from being swept in three games. Had anyone told Alsager that her team would find a way to extend the match to five games after the first two games, she’d been tickled to have a chance to pull out a win.

“I’m not sure that we ever really got going,” Alsager said. “It didn’t feel like my team out there.”

Sandpoint couldn’t defend Rigby’s middle hitters who combined for 28 kills. The Bulldogs especially had difficulty blocking 6-foot-1 Nicole Warner, who had a match-high 18 kills.

“We didn’t play poorly, but we definitely didn’t play great volleyball,” Alsager said. “The other team was definitely better.”

Wahlin led Sandpoint with 17 kills. But the Bulldogs didn’t have enough weapons overall to counter the Trojans.

“We didn’t get enough swings like we normally do,” Alsager said. “It’s a state tournament and you’ve got to have three guns. I don’t think we had three make a big enough impact.”

Sandpoint’s deficiencies were obvious to Alsager.

“We couldn’t stop their middles,” she said. “That hurt us the most.”

Even after Sandpoint won the third and fourth games, the Trojans never showed a sense of panic.

“I had a little talk with the seniors before the match,” Selditz said. “I said ‘You’ve come a long ways, don’t disappoint yourselves by playing safe.”

In the fifth game, Sandpoint led briefly at 4-2. Rigby took the lead for good at 5-4 when the Bulldogs were called for a lift.

Rigby led 14-12 when Lundyn Decker was called for reaching over the net. But the Trojans got match point moments later when Warner blocked Wahlin.