| State
Champions!!
The Prairie Lady Pirate won their first ever State Volleyball Championship this past weekend at Wendell High School. They lost just 1 game over their four matches in what looked more like a District 2 championship than a State Championship as 3 of their 4 matches came against fellow White Pine League teams. They beat Oakley 25-19, 25-12, 25-22 and Genesee 25-20, 23-25, 25-15, 26-24 on Friday and Troy 25-20, 25-21, 25-11 and Genesee 25-18, 25-21, 26-24 on Saturday. 
To be honest their play was a little more ragged than usual. It was probably due to tournament nerves as it was the first time at state for any of the girls. The seniors were freshman the last time Prairie made it to State. Also having to play at 7 a.m. Pacific Time had to contribute. It was still dark out when they got to the gym! It also didn’t hurt that Oakley may have been the weakest team in the tournament as they got eliminated without winning even a game later in the day by Horseshoe Bend. Prairie opened the first game by falling behind 5-9 as Oakley got several kills from their outside hitters. Shayla VonBargen scored the kill to put Krystin Uhlenkott on the service line and then stuffed an Oakley spike to start Uhlenkott’s service run. Hailey Danly and Kayla Schumacher each added a kill and VonBargen scored another stuff to give Prairie a 10-9 lead. After several sideouts, Danly served 2 aces and Schumacher scored a kill for a 16-12 lead. Oakley pulled back within 2 at 20-18 before VonBargen scored a kill. A kill each by Uhlenkott and VonBargen and a block by Danly put Prairie at game point at 24-18. A sideout by Oakley was followed by a kill by Uhlenkott for the game winner. Prairie again fell behind in the second game 4-7 before a kill by Uhlenkott, an ace by Chaye Uptmor and a stuff by VonBargen tied the score. Oakley took the lead twice more at 7-8 and 9-10 but a tip by VonBargen put Uhlenkott at the service line and Prairie dominated the rest of the game. Uhlenkott had an 8-point run with 2 aces plus 2 back row kills. Danly and VonBargen each added a stuff and VonBargen and Schumacher each added a kill as Prairie took an 18-10 lead. After an Oakley sideout Schumacher scored a kill to send VonBargen to the service line. VonBargen served up an ace while Uhlorn and Schumacher each scored a stuff and Schumacher added a kill to make it 23-11. After missing a serve, Natasha Gimmeson picked up a kill on a get-it-back-over-the-net bump and Uhlorn stuffed an Oakley spike for the game-winner. It was another slow start in the third game as Prairie fell behind 5-9 early but managed to pull into a tie at 12-12. They were able to tie the score 4 more times before falling behind 17-20. At that point Schumacher scored back-to-back kills and Uhlorn scored a block that tied it at 20. Danly then served up an ace to finally put Prairie ahead and Uhlorn added a kill to make it 22-20. A missed spike cut the lead to 1 but a kill by Gimmeson followed by an ace by Schumacher made it 24-21. Oakley scored a sideout but Uhlenkott then scored the match winning kill. VonBargen had 15 kills in the match inclunding 4 stuffs plus 2 aces. Schumacher had 14 kills including 1 stuff plus 2 aces. Uhlenkott had 13 kills, an assists and 3 aces. Danly had 9 kills including 4 stuffs plus 20 assists and 4 aces. Uhlorn had 6 kills including 3 stuffs. Gimmeson had 4 kills, 21 assists and 1 ace. Uptmor had 4 assists and 2 aces.  The
Lady Pirates played much sharper as they finally started a game by taking
a lead as Danly served 2 aces and Uhlorn added a kill for a 3-0 lead.
Prairie never trailed in the game and led by as many as 7 at 12-5 after a stuff block by Uhlorn. Genesee was able to chip away at the lead and pulled within 2 at 19-17, 20-18 and 21-19. At 21-19, Uhlenkott scored a back row kill that put Schumacher on the service line. She served 2 aces to make it 24-19. Genesee scored a sideout but a spike by Uhlenkott led to a missed spike by Genesee as Prairie won 25-20. The second game saw Genesee take their first lead of the match at 1-2. Prairie came back for a 4-2 lead and the game went back and forth until Genesee put a 6-point run together that turned a 9-9 tie into a 9-15 lead. Prairie trailed by as many as 8 at 10-18 before mounting a comeback. Prairie got the sideout on a bump by Danly on 2nd touch. Schumacher then served an ace, Uhlenkott stuffed a Genesee spike, Uhlorn scored 2 kills, Uhlenkott scored another stuff and then added a kill to cut the lead to 17-18. Prairie couldn’t get the score tied, much less retake the lead though and Genesee was able to hang for a 2-point win. Genesee took a 0-2 lead in the second game but Schumacher scored a kill to put herself on the service line where she served 2 aces to give Prairie the lead. A kill by Uhlenkott and 2 stuffs by Uhlorn made it 6-2 Prairie. The Pirates never trailed again in the game and steadily built the lead with the final 10-point margin being their biggest lead of the game. They appeared to take that momentum into the fourth game as Prairie took a 4-0 lead. Schumacher, who had struggled with her hitting earlier in the match, opened the game with a sideout kill. A stuff by Uhlorn, another kill by Schumacher and an ace by Danly made it 4-0. After a sideout, another kill by Schumacher, a kill by Uhlenkott and an ace by Schumacher made it 7-1. Genesee wasn’t about to go down easy though as they fought back and eventually took a 14-15 lead. From there to the finish it was a close game with Prairie taking leads of 19-17 and 21-19 only to see Genesee come back and get to game point at 22-24. A stuff by Danly warded off that game point and a kill by Schumacher tie the game at 24-24. Uhlenkott served up an ace to get to match point and Schumacher slammed one off a Genesee blocker for the match-winning kill. Uhlenkott wound up with 26 kills including 2 stuffs plus 3 aces. Schumacher, despite a rough start, had 17 kills, an assist and 6 aces. VonBargen had 12 kills including 3 stuffs plus an assist and 2 aces. Uhlorn had 14 kills including an amazing 7 blocks. Danly had 2 kills including a stuff plus 38 assists and 4 aces. Uptmor had 3 back row kills, an assist and 4 aces. Gimmeson had 2 kills, 16 assists and 1 ace. 
Prairie was finally able to break through and take the lead on a kill by Schumacher that made it 20-19. Gimmeson scored a kill on a dig and VonBargen stuffed Troy’s 6 foot sophomore Abby Blum to make it 22-19. After a sideout, Schumacher scored a kill and VonBargen followed with an ace. Schumacher then scored the game-winning kill. The second game followed the script of the first game except Prairie was able to take a lead here and there, at 6-5, 8-6 and 14-13. Troy took their final lead though at 15-16. Uhlenkott scored a kill to tie it and Danly recorded another stuff to give Prairie the lead for good. VonBargen followed by knocking down a bad set by Troy that wound up at the top of the net. Troy scored a sideout but VonBargen scored a kill and then an ace to give Prairie a 20-17 lead. After 4 straight sideouts, Schumacher served an ace to make it 23-19. Troy cut the lead to 23-21 but a kill by Uhlenkott and an ace by Uptmor ended the game. Leading 2 games to 0, Prairie jumped on Troy while they were down in the third game as Danly served the Pirates to an 11-0 lead. She had 3 aces plus a dig that went for a kill while Schumacher had 4 kills, Uhlorn had 2 kills and Uhlenkott had a back row kill. Troy was able to get back within 8 at 13-5 but never got any closer as Prairie dominated the game and advanced to the championship match. A demoralized Troy wound up losing in 3 games to Genesee to set up the championship matchup. For the match Schumacher had 20 kills, an assist and an ace. VonBargen had 12 kills including 4 stuffs plus an assist and 3 aces. Uhlenkott had 11 kills and 2 aces. Uhlorn had 10 kills including 2 stuffs. Danly had 4 kills including 2 stuffs plus 26 assists and 4 aces. Gimmeson had 2 kills, 18 assists and 3 aces. Uptmor had 2 aces.  Genesee
scored the first point but a stuff by Uhlorn and 3 aces by Danly put Prairie
up 4-1.
Prairie was able to build a 6 point lead at 15-9 before Genesee mounted a comeback to take a 17-18 lead. A kill by Uhlenkott tied it and she then was able to serve out the game. She started with a pair of aces then a ping-pong battle at the net wound up with Genesee being called for a net violation. A second touch tip by Danly, 2 stuffs by VonBargen and an ace by Uhlenkott gave Prairie the 7-point win. Genesee got the fast start in the second game taking a 0-4 lead as Kayla Cornell served 3 aces. A kill by Uhlorn ended the run and Schumacher served 2 aces and Uhlenkott added 2 kills as Prairie came back to take a 5-4 lead. Genesee took a few brief leads but Prairie led most of the rest of the game. Genesee had a late lead of 19-21 but a kill by Uhlenkott put her back on the service line where she again was able to serve out the game. A tip by Schumacher, an ace, another tip by Schumacher, a free ball kill by Gimmeson and a stuff by VonBargen and Danly (they were both on the block) finished off the game. As we said before, Genesee wasn’t going down easy. The Bulldogs took a 2-7 lead early on and still led 6-9 when Uhlenkott scored a kill to put herself on the service line. She had her third big run of the match against the Bulldogs as she served Prairie to a 13-9 lead with 3 aces plus 2 kills by VonBargen and another by Schumacher. Genesee was able to cut the lead down to 1 at 16-15 but Prairie was able to hold them off until Genesee finally got back into the lead at 22-23. A kill by Schumacher tied it but a missed spike by Prairie gave Genesee a game-point chance at 23-24. Consecutive kills by Schumacher turned that around to a championship point chance by Prairie. Danly’s serve was returned wide for an ace and the celebration began. Uhlenkott had 18 kills, 1 assists and 7 aces and was the server for 19 points in the match. Schumacher added 13 kills, 2 assists and 2 aces. VonBargen had 11 kills including 4 stuffs. Uhlorn had 7 kills including 3 stuffs. Danly had 4 kills including 2 stuffs plus 19 assists and 4 aces. Gimmeson had 3 kills, 21 assists and 3 aces. Uptmor had an assist and an ace and if we kept digs, we’re sure she had a whole bunch of those throughout the tournament. For the tournament Prairie scored on 42 blocks and had several other blocks that didn’t lead to points. Uhlorn and VonBargen had 15 blocks each while Danly, who is a setter for half the rotation, had 9. Schumacher wound up with 64 kills in the tournament with Uhlenkott adding 59, VonBargen 49 and Uhlorn 37. Prairie ends their season at 23-3 Lady Pirates: Words cannot express how proud I am of the Lady Pirates and the hard work they put in to become the 1AD1 State Volleyball Champions. I have watched them fine tune their skills this season to become a force to be reckoned with, as evidenced with their overwhelming victories at the State Championships. It was truly an honor to be your bus driver. Well done girls, well done. Rick Johnson
PIRATES GIRLS VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2014 C/JV/V matches start at 5 p.m. SEPTEMBER 2-Lapwai*, there, won 3 games to 2 4-Grangeville, there, 5 p.m., won 3 games to 0 9-C.V.*, there, won 3 games to 1 11-Potlatch*, there, 5 p.m., won 3 games to 0 16-Genesee*, there, 5 p.m., lost 0 games to 3 18-Home Tri-match vs. Kamiah*, won 3 games to 0; 5 p.m., vs. Kendrick, 8 p.m., won 3 games to 0 20-Border Battle Tournament, won 2 of 3 matches and 10 of 15 games played 22-Grangeville here, Dig Pink, 5 p.m., won 3 games to 0 23-Troy*, there, 5 p.m., lost 0 games to 3 25-Lapwai*, here, won 3 games to 0 30-Troy*, here, 5 p.m., won 3 games to 1 OCTOBER 2-CV*, here, won 3 games to 0 4-Genesee Tournament, placed 2nd 7-Potlatch*, here, 5 p.m., won 3 games to 0 9-Genesee*, here, 5 p.m., won 3 games to 2 14-Kamiah*, there, won 3 games to 0 20-22-District at LCSC, beat C.V. 3 games to 0 to clinch state berth; beat Troy 3 games to 1 for first District title since 2003 Oct. 31, Nov. 1-State at Wendell, beat Oakley 3 games to 0; beat Genesee 3 games to 1; beat Troy 3 games to 0; beat Genesee 3 games to 0; First State Volleyball Championship ever for Prairie!! PIRATES GIRLS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2014-15 *indicates league game NOVEMBER 18-Highland, there 20-Lewiston J.V., there 25-Moscow, here, 5:30 DECEMBER 2-Potlatch, there*, 5 p.m. 4-Genesee, here* 6-Troy, there*, 1 p.m. 8-C.V., here* 10-JV vs. Grangeville, here, 6 p.m. 11-Lapwai, there* 12-Grangeville, there, Idaho County Shootout, V only, 6 p.m. 15-Kamiah, here* 19-Grangeville, here JANUARY 6-Moscow, there, 5:30 p.m. 8-Genesee, there* 10-Potlatch, here*, 1 p.m. 13-Troy, here* 16-C.V., there* 22-Lapwai, here* 24-Kamiah, there*, 1 p.m. 26-Asotin, here, quad, JV 3 p.m., V 6 p.m. 30-Highland, here* Feb. 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 13 -District at LCSC 12-State Play-In #1 at Wallace 14-State Play-in #2 at Cascade 20-22-State at Nampa |
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