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Pirates still alive for state berth
The Prairie Lady Pirates split their final two regular season matches then won 2 of 3 at District to stay alive for a possible state tournament berth. On Tuesday, Oct. 11 they lost their senior night matchup to Grangeville 2 games to 3. They bounced back to sweep Potlatch in their final regular season match at Potlatch Thursday, Oct. 13. At District they opened with a 3 game sweep of Kamiah on Saturday, Oct. 15 at Lewiston then lost to Genesee 1 game to 3 later in the day. They bounced back Monday night with a sweep of Potlatch to keep their state hopes alive. 
All five seniors started the first game as Chaye Uptmor, Mykaela McWilliams, Nicole Poxleitner, Darlene Gehring and Sam Remacle took the floor along with Angela Wemhoff. Wemhoff served Prairie to a 6-0 lead with 2 aces, 2 kills by McWilliams and a kill each by Uptmor and Remacle. Later on Prairie increased the lead to 10 at 16-6 as Poxleitner served 3 aces. They pretty much held that lead through the rest of the game. The same group started the second game and unlike the first it was close all the way as Grangeville stepped up their defensive intensity and the senior night adrenalin wore off for Prairie. Prairie had the first game point opportunity at 24-23 but missed a serve and Grangeville followed with an ace for their own game point chance. Poxleitner scored a first touch kill to even the game but Grangeville scored the final 2 points to win the game. In the third game Prairie went to their regular lineup and took leads of 4-2 and 7-4 only to see Grangeville come back to take a 14-19 lead. Prairie fought back and a kill each by Madison Pecarovich and McWilliams tied the score at 22-22. Leah Higgins served an ace to put Prairie ahead but Grangeville tied it. Sydney Bruner scored a kill for game point and McWilliams slammed a first touch spike for the game-winner to put Prairie up 2 games to 1. The momentum switched in the fourth game as Grangeville jumped out to leads of 0-3 and 1-6 and led the entire game to even the match. The same thing happened in the deciding game as Grangeville jumped out to a 1-6 lead and never trailed as they pulled out the win. For the match McWilliams had 18 kills, which included 3 blocks, plus 3 aces. Higgins had 13 kills including a block plus an assist and 3 aces. Uptmor had 12 kills, 3 assists and 5 aces. Bruner had 11 kills and 2 aces. Wemhoff had 10 kills 23 assists and 5 aces. Pecarovich had 3 kills 28 assists and 2 aces. Poxleitner had 3 kills and 3 aces. Remacle had 3 kills and Gehring had an ace. The JV team won their match 25-22, 25-9, 12-15. Prairie jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the first game only to see Grangeville come within 1 at 15-14. Prairie was able to hold them off and never let Grangeville take the lead. In the second game Jordyn Higgins had a big serving run that turned a 4-2 lead into a 12-2 lead. She had just 1 ace as Prairie dominated at the net with Theresa Wemhoff, Alexis Hiler and Alexis Shears scoring 2 kills each. Prairie later pushed the lead to 19-4 as Wemhoff served 2 aces. At 23-9 Higgins was back on the service line and after a kill by Sabrina Lustig, she served up an ace to end it. In the third game, with the match in hand, Prairie had a bit of a letdown and Grangeville was able to pull out the win. The C match was similar to the JV in that Prairie won the first two games to clinch the match then lost the third game. Prairie had consistent play in their league and season finale at Potlatch with Uptmor having 10 kills and 13 digs while McWilliams had 13 digs and 7 kills which included 4 blocks. Prairie ended the regular season at 14-10 overall and 8-4 in league play. The JV team won their match 2 games to 1.  Prairie
opened District play as the #3 seed and took down #6 seeded Kamiah 25-10,
25-11, 25-9.
Bruner served 4 straight points to put Prairie up 6-1 in the opening game with 2 aces and a kill each by Uptmor and McWilliams. It was Wemhoff though that put Prairie in command with a 9-point run that made it 19-3. She served 6 straight aces to start her run. A kill by Uptmor, another ace and a kill be Pecarovich finished off the run. A hitting error ended the run. Kamiah rallied some after that but Prairie still won by 15. Wemhoff served Prairie to a 4-0 lead in the second game with an ace, 2 kills by Bruner and a kill by McWilliams. Kamiah fought back to within 8-6 but long runs by Uptmor and Higgins put the game out of reach. Uptmor took over at 9-6 and served Prairie to a 14-6 lead. She had 2 aces while Wemhoff added 2 kills and Bruner another. Higgins served 4 straight aces and McWilliams added a kill to turn a 15-9 lead into a 20-9 lead. Wemhoff later served out the game after taking over at 21-11. McWilliams and Bruner each had a kill and Wemhoff served 2 aces to end it. Wemhoff kept up her strong serving in the third game. After Poxleitner scored a sideout kill, Wemhoff served 6 straight points, 4 of them aces plus a kill each by Uptmor and Poxleitner, before missing her first serve of the match. Kamiah never got back into it as Prairie ran away with another big win. Uptmor had 8 kills and 3 aces in the match. McWilliams had 8 kills and 1 ace. Bruner had 6 kills and 5 aces. Wemhoff had 5 kills, 18 assists and 15 aces. She was server for 25 points, a third of Prairie’s match total. Remacle had 3 kills and an assist. Poxleitner had 3 kills. Pecarovich had 2 kills and 8 assists. Leah Higgins had 2 kills and 5 aces. Kristyna Krogh had 1 kill and 7 assists. Jordyn Higgins had 1 kill and 2 assists. Gehring had 1 kill and 2 aces. 
That gave Prairie a tough road to make it back to the state tournament as they would have to win 4 matches in 6 days in 3 different cities. In the opening game Prairie fell behind early but took the lead a couple times only to fall behind again. They trailed 12-13 when McWilliams scored a kill to send Wemhoff to the service line. An ace and a kill each by McWilliams and Bruner put Prairie ahead 16-13. After a sideout, 2 more kills by McWilliams made it 18-14. After another sideout, a kill each by McWilliams and Higgins made it 20-15. Genesee scored the final 5 points only on sideouts as Prairie was able to sideout the Bulldog servers. In the second game Prairie had an 11-6 lead after 3 straight aces by Uptmor but then the game turned. Genesee came back to take a 12-13 lead and after tying the score at 14, Prairie trailed the rest of the game. In the third game Prairie led only 1 time, at 1-0 on a kill by Bruner. They tied it at 5-5 but the gave up 3 straight points and never led again. In the fourth game a stuff block by McWilliams and a kill each by McWilliams and Bruner gave prairie a 3-0 lead. Genesee came back for leads of 6-7 and 7-8 but a 4-point run by Higgins gave Prairie a 12-8 lead. She had an ace while McWilliams had a kill and a block and Bruner added a kill. Genesee fought back and finally took the lead back at 21-23. Prairie tied it at 23 with a kill by Wemhoff and an ace by Bruner but Genesee’s Courtney Burt scored a kill to get to match point. Genesee bricked the serve but Prairie couldn’t capitalize as they were called for a net foul to set up another match point for Genesee. Burt scored another kill to send the Bulldogs to the championship match and the state tournament while Prairie had to fight their way to state the hard way as Genesee had to do the past two years. Prairie and Genesee look to be well matched but it seemed every time Prairie would get some momentum going they would brick a serve or some other unforced error. McWilliams had 15 kills, including 4 blocks, plus 4 assists and 2 aces. Leah Higgins had 12 kills, 1 assist and 2 aces. Uptmor had 11 kills, 3 assists and 4 aces. Wemhoff had 9 kills, 21 assists and 2 aces. Bruner had 9 kills, 2 assists and 2 aces. Pecarovich had 6 kills and 4 assists. Krogh had 1 kill, 16 assists and 1 ace.  They
were to play Lapwai on Tuesday, Oct. 18 for third place and if they won
that match they will travel to Coeur d’Alene High School Thursday, Oct.
20 for a play-in match against Wallace. If they win that they have to play
another play-in match on Saturday, Oct. 22 at Highland against a team from
District 3. A win in that match sends them to the State Tournament at Rigby
Oct. 28-29.
Potlatch played Prairie tough early on in both the first and second games. In the opening game Prairie trailed 4-6 the outscored Potlatch 15-3. McWilliams served Prairie to an 8-6 lead with 2 aces plus a kill by Pecarovich. After trading sideouts, Pecarovich served 4 straight points for a 13-7 lead. She had 2 aces with Higgins adding 2 kills. After a sideout and an ace from Potlatch, Wemhoff scored a kill to send Uptmor to the service line. After a kill each by Higgins and Wemhoff, Uptmor served 3 straight aces for a 19-9 lead. Potlatch got no closer than 9 the rest of the game. In the second match Potlatch took a 3-6 lead and still led 4-7 when Uptmor scored a kill to send Kristyna Krogh to the service line. Krogh served 7 straight to give Prairie the lead for good. She had 3 aces with Wemhoff scoring 2 kills and McWilliams and Uptmor 1 each as Prairie took a 12-7 lead. Prairie dominated the rest of the game outscoring the Loggers 13-4 with Potlatch scoring only 1 point on serve, the other 3 on sideouts. Meanwhile Uptmor served 2 aces, Higgins served 2 aces with McWilliams adding 2 kills and Wemhoff served the final 4 points of the game with 2 aces and a kill each by Pecarovich and McWilliams. Potlatch never led in the third game and the only time the score was tied was at 1-1. Remacle scored the go-ahead sideout kill and the rest of the game was all Prairie. Bruner had 2 aces and McWilliams a block for a 5-1 lead. Higgins had a 6-point run to turn a 10-5 lead into a 16-5 lead. She had 4 aces and McWilliams added 2 kills. Bruner had a 4-point run with 2 aces plus a block and a kill by McWilliams and Gehring served the match’s final 2 points, collecting an ace for the finisher. McWilliams had 12 kills, which included 4 blocks plus 2 aces in the match. Uptmor added 10 kills and 6 aces. Wemhoff had 7 kills, 16 assists and 2 aces. Pecarovich had 5 kills, 6 assists and 2 aces. Higgins and Bruner each had 3 kills and 6 aces. Krogh had 1 kill, 10 assists and 3 aces. Remacle had 1 kill. Jordyn Higgins and Poxleitner each had 1 assist. Gehring had 1 assist and 1 ace. Prairie improves to 16-11 on the season.
Leah Higgins looks to poke the ball away from the blocker in the Genesee match. Also shown is Angela Wemhoff. 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, won 3 games to 1 10-JV and C teams at Grangeville JV Tournament 13-CV*, here, 4:30 p.m., won 3 games to 0 13-Orofino, here, 7 p.m., V only, lost 1 game to 3 15-Grangeville, there, C, JV, V, 5 p.m., lost 2 games to 3 20-Kamiah, there, C, JV, V, 5 p.m., won 3 games to 1 22-Genesee*, here, C, JV, V, 5 p.m., lost 1 game to 3 24-Border Battle at Pomeroy, won 4 of 5 matches 27-Lapwai*, there, won 3 games to 1 29-Troy*, here, C, JV, V, 5 p.m., lost 0 games to 3 8-Tri-Match vs. Potlatch* & CV* @ C.V., 1 p.m. V only, beat CV 3 games to 0; beat Potlatch 3 games to 1 10-JV at Sacajawea 9th, 5 p.m., rescheduled from Sept. 7 11-Grangeville, here, C, JV, V, 5 p.m., lost 2 games to 3, details next week 13-Potlatch*, there, C, JV, V, 4:30 p.m. 15, 17, 18,19-District at LCSC-beat Kamiah 3 games to 0, lost to Genesee 1 game to 3, beat Potlatch 3 games to 0, beat Lapwai 3 games to 1 (details next week) , Third Place 20-Play-in vs. Wallace at Coeur d'Alene High School 5 p.m. 22-Play-in at Highland vs. District 3 4th place team 28-29-State at Rigby *League Game |
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