| Lady
Pirates win opener, play at Lewiston Tourney
The Lady Pirates volleyball team had a busy start to the season as they swept Kamiah in their season opener Thursday, August 25 at Cottonwood, and then made it into the championship bracket at the Lewiston Tournament on Saturday, August 27. It was their 19th straight league win. 
Prairie fell behind 1-4 in the opening game but Leah Higgins served them back into the lead with two aces and 2 kills by Chaye Uptmor. Sydney Bruner then served Prairie to a 10-5 lead with a jump serve ace plus a kill by Josie Peery, who was starting in place of Mykaela McWilliams who was shy 1 practice of being eligible. Prairie gradually added to their lead with Angela Wemhoff serving an ace and Uptmor, Madison Pecarovich and Bruner 2 aces each as Prairie built their lead to 24-13. Kamiah was able to come back with 3 straight points before a kill by Peery ended the game. Pecarovich serve Prairie to a 3-0 lead in the second game with 2 aces plus a kill by Sam Remacle. Kamiah came back though with 4 straight to take the lead. The lead changed hands until Kamiah put together 5 straight to take an 8-14 lead. Prairie still trailed 10-15 when Wemhoff scored a kill to put Pecarovich on the service line at 11-15. She served 7 straight with 3 jump serve aces, 2 kills by Remacle and a kill each by Nicole Poxleitner and Pecarovich as Prairie took an 18-15 lead. Kamiah got back within 1 when Remacle score a kill and Darlene Gehring put together a 3-point service run with an ace, a kill by Uptmor and a block by Poxleitner as Prairie took a 22-17 lead. Kamiah scored a sideout but Uptmor scored a kill to get the serve right back. With Bruner serving, Wemhoff scored a kill and then Bruner ended the game with a jump serve ace. In the third game Leah Higgins scored a pair of aces to give Prairie a 4-1 lead. After some trading of sideouts, Wemhoff gave Prairie a good margin with 2 aces and a block by Peery that made it 11-4. Kamiah came back and pulled within 14-12 before Higgins scored a kill to end that run. Peery then served 3 aces to push the lead back to 6 at 18-12. After a pair of sideouts, Pecarovich also served 3 aces to make it 22-13. Kamiah got back within 23-17 and 24-18 but Wemhoff scored the match-winning kill on a set from Pecarovich. For the game Uptmor had 11 kills, 1 assist and 3 aces. Wemhoff had 6 kills, 10 assists and 3 aces. Pecarovich had 3 kills, 23 assists and 10 aces. Higgins had 5 kills and 4 aces. Remacle had 5 kills. Peery had 4 kills including a block and 3 aces. Poxleitner had 4 kills including a block plus an assist. Bruner had 2 kills, 1 assist and 4 aces. Gehring had an ace. In the JV match Prairie won the match 16-25, 25-13, 15-4. In the opening game Prairie fell behind 0-3 but fought back to tie the score at 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 but could never take the lead. After Alexis Shears served an ace to make it 9-9, Kamiah got the sideout and then scored 3 more to take the lead for good at 9-13. The Kubs had 2 service runs of 4 points each to help put the game away as they won by 9. The second game was a complete turnabout as Kristyna Krogh served 6 aces in 8 serves to give Prairie a 7-0 lead. Her cousin Anna Vinsova scored a kill for the seventh point before Kamiah finally got on the board. Kamiah was able to get back within 4 at 16-12 but two kills by Emma Gehring put Prairie back up by 6 and after a pair of sideouts, Gehring served out the game with 4 straight aces before Jordyn Higgins and Vinsova each scored a kill to finish the game. In the deciding game Theresa Wemhoff served Prairie to a 3-0 lead with 2 aces and a kill by Madison Hinkelman. Kamiah got within 1 at 3-2 before a free ball kill by Wemhoff put Hinkelman on the service line. Hinkelman served 8 straight points to put Prairie in control. She had 4 aces with Sabrina Lustig and Higgins adding 2 kills each as Prairie took a 12-2 lead. 2 of Prairie’s final 3 points came on sideouts with the other on an ace by Lustig. In the C match Prairie swept Kamiah 27-25, 25-15 and 15-6. In pool play Prairie opened with a 20-25, 25-20, 11-15 loss to Kellogg. They followed with a 21-25, 12-25 loss to Lewiston. Finally they beat Pendleton 25-23, 27-26. Pendleton had beaten Kellogg so Prairie, Kellogg and Pendleton were all 1-2 in pool play. It came down to point differential and the 17-point differential against Lewiston was much smaller than either Kellogg’s or Pendleton’s In championship bracket play Prairie lost in two 1-game matches to 25. They lost to Troy 17-25 and to Timberlake 18-25. All pool play games started with the score at 4-4. Apparently the rule book says you have to play to 25 unless it is the deciding game so instead of just playing to 21,  they
start at 4-4, which apparently is allowed.
In the opening game against Kellogg Prairie played it close early on but a couple of short service runs had Kellogg up 14-21. Prairie was able to get back within 2 at 20-22 as Mykaela McWilliams served 3 aces and scored on a stuff block and a kill while Uptmor added a kill. Their rally was killed on a double hit violation and Kellogg was able to win the final 2 points of the game. The second game was back and forth deep into the game as it was tied at 17-17 when Prairie finally began to pull away. Angela Wemhoff scored on a dig to make it 18-17 then served 4 straight points with an ace and 3 kills by Uptmor, to take a 22-17 lead. They allowed Kellogg just 1 service point the rest of the game as they held on for the 5 point win. In the deciding third game Prairie led 9-8 when things started going against them. A net violation turned the serve over and Kellogg scored 4 more points on serve to take a 9-13 lead. Prairie’s final 2 points of the match both came on bricked serves as Kellogg kept them from scoring any more offensively as they pulled out the 4 point win. They led 11-10 when Lewiston put 4 straight points on the board to take the lead for good. Prairie was able to keep it close as they never trailed by more than 5 as Lewiston went on to win by 4. In the second game Lewiston jumped on Prairie early taking leads of 1-5, 3-11 and 8-21 as they cruised to an easy win in the match. The two teams appeared to be evenly matched and the difference may have been that Prairie had a bye while Pendleton had to play. A kill by Higgins and an ace by Pecarovich gave Prairie a quick 2-point lead but Pendleton won 5 of the next 6 points for a 7-9 lead. McWilliams served 2 aces to put Prairie back on top and that’s how the game went, back and forth. Prairie never led by more than 2 and Pendleton twice held a 3-point lead at 17-20 and again at 19-22. Prairie was down 19-22 when Higgins slammed a spike off a blocker for a kill. A kill by McWilliams and an ace by Higgins tied the game. After a Pendleton timeout, McWilliams stuffed a Pendleton spike and Uptmor added a kill for a 24-22 Prairie lead. A lift violation kept Prairie from winning it on the next point but a missed spike by Pendleton on their serve gave Prairie the game. In the second game Prairie took a 13-9 lead after 2 aces by Wemhoff but Pendleton answered back and tied the game at 15-15. From that point on there were 6 lead changes and 9 ties. Prairie trailed 20-22 when a kill by McWilliams scored a sideout. A kill by Peery, and ace by McWilliams and a kill by Wemhoff gave Prairie a match point opportunity at 24-22. Pendleton answered with 3 straight points for their own game point chance. Wemhoff scored the kill to tie the game. Pendleton got a kill for another game-point chance but Higgins answered with a kill to tie the game at 26. There was a 27-point cap on the first two games of each match in pool play so the next point would decide game. Peery was able to send the ball over on second touch and Pendleton’s return went wide give Prairie the game and the match. Prairie wound up facing White Pine League foe Troy, who didn’t lose as much to graduation as Prairie did. Troy jumped out on top 0-3 and 1-5. Prairie fought back to take a 6-5 lead as McWilliams had a 4-point service run that included 3 aces plus a kill by Uptmor. Troy came right back though and got a 6-point run from Abby Blum to take a 7-15 lead. A tip by Uptmor ended Blum’s service run and Uptmor followed with an ace and Higgins and Pecarovich each added a kill as Prairie pulled within 11-15. Troy then got the sideout and 3 more points to push the lead back to 11-19 and limited Prairie to just 1 point on serve the rest of the game. Prairie fell behind 1-4 but a kill by Wemhoff and a 5-point run by Higgins that included 2 aces and a kill each by McWilliams, Uptmor and Wemhoff gave Prairie a 7-4 lead. Timberlake came back to take a 10-12 lead but Prairie responded with a run of their own as Higgins scored a sideout kill and Bruner served 3 straight points with McWilliams scoring a pair of kills and Higgins the other. A Timberlake timeout threw off Bruner’s jump-serve rhythm and she missed long for the sideout. A Timberlake ace tied it and a kill gave them the lead. A kill by Higgins re-tied it at 15 but Prairie never again had the lead as Timberlake was able to pull away for a 7-point win. For the day McWilliams had 32 kills which included 6 blocks. She also had 2 assists and 9 aces. Higgins had 21 kills, 2 assists and 3 aces. Uptmor had 19 kills, 2 assists and 4 aces. Wemhoff had 8 kills 37 assists and 4 aces. Pecarovich had 5 kills, 29 assists and 5 aces. Peery had 5 kills, including 1 block. Bruner had 3 assists and 4 aces. Prairie is now 2-4 in matches and 1-0 in league play.
27-at Lewiston Tournament, won 1 match, lost 4. 27-JV at Genesee JV Tournament 30-Genesee*, there, C, JV, V, 5 p.m., lost 1 game to 3 7-JV at Sacajawea 9th, 5 p.m. postponed 8-Lapwai*, here 10-JV and C teams at Grangeville JV Tournament 13-CV*, here, 4:30 p.m. 13-Orofino, here, 7 p.m., V only 15-Grangeville, there, C, JV, V, 5 p.m. 20-Kamiah, there, C, JV, V, 5 p.m. 22-Genesee*, here, C, JV, V, 5 p.m. 24-Border Battle at Pomeroy 27-Lapwai*, there 29-Troy*, here, C, JV, V, 5 p.m. 8-Tri-Match vs. Potlatch* & CV* @ C.V., 1 p.m. V only 10-JV at Sacajawea 9th, 5 p.m., rescheduled from Sept. 7 11-Grangeville, here, C, JV, V, 5 p.m. 13-Potlatch*, there, C, JV, V, 4:30 p.m. TBA-District at LCSC 28-29-State at Rigby *League Game 13-Asotin, here 20-Orofino, here 21-Nezperce, here 27-at Grangeville, 4 p.m. 29-at Asotin 5-at Orofino 10-at Nezperce 12-Grangeville, here, 4 p.m. |
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