Lady Pirates finish third at District
The Prairie Lady Pirates alternated wins and losses in their 4 District Tournament matches to wind up in third place.
On Tuesday, Oct. 20 they swept Kamiah 25-21, 25-21, 25-22 and then got swept by Genesee, 17-25, 22-25, 19-25. Both matches were at Genesee. On Wednesday, Oct. 21 they hosted Potlatch and swept the Loggers, 30-28, 25-20, 25-23. Finally on Thursday, Oct. 22 they traveled back to Genesee where they got swept again 21-25, 20-25, 22-25.
In the opening match against Kamiah, the Kubs came out ready to play. They took an early lead of 7-11 and eventually held an 11-17 lead.
Prairie rallied back within 2 at 15-17 but Kamiah pushed the lead right back to 5 at 15-20.
A kill by Ellea Uhlenkott scored a sideout then Uhlenkott served Prairie into the lead. A kill by Hope Schwartz, an ace by Uhlenkott, a kill by Madison Shears, a block by Laney Forsmann and another ace put Prairie ahead 21-20.
Kamiah scored a sideout but Shears came back with a kill that put Tara Schlader on the service line. A kill by Jade Prigge, a kill by Shears and another kill by Prigge enabled Prairie to pull out a 25-21 win.
In the second game Kamiah took a 1-3 lead but Prairie answered back with a kill each by Delanie Lockett, Uhlenkott and Schlader for a 4-3 lead and never trailed again. Kamiah tied the score at 4 but Prairie came back with a kill by Shears and 2 aces by Uhlenkott for a 7-4 lead.
Kamiah was able to tie the score once more at 13-13 but then bricked a serve to give Prairie the lead for good.
Prairie led by as many as 5 points at 23-18 after an ace by Shears and held on to win again by 4 points.
In the third game Kamiah took a 1-3 lead but Prairie came back with a kill by Uhlenkott, an ace by Lockett, another kill by Uhlenkott, a kill by Shears and a block by Uhlenkott for a 6-3 lead.
Kamiah answered back with a 4-point run to retake the lead.
The lead changed hands two more times before Prairie took the lead for good on a block by Laney Forsmann that made it 12-11. She scored on another block and Shears added an ace for a 14-11 lead.
Kamiah got back within 1 but a kill each by Schlader and Prigge and an ace by Sierra McWilliams put Prairie on top by 4 at 17-13.
Kamiah closed within 2 but a kill each by Schlader and Schwartz, a block by Schlader and an ace by Schwartz made it 21-15.
Prairie eventually got to match point at 24-19 on an ace by Uhlenkott. Kamiah fought off 3 match points before Shears scored the winning kill.
For the match Schlader had 12 kills, including 2 blocks with 14 assists. Shears had 11 kills, 4 assists and 5 aces. Uhlenkott had 7 kills, including a block, with 6 aces. Forsmann had 7 kills, including 3 blocks. Prigge had 5 kills and 1 assist. Schwartz had 4 kills, 19 assists and 2 aces. Lockett had 4 kills, 1 assist and 4 aces. McWilliams had 1 assist and 2 aces.
After a break so that the gym could be cleaned, Prairie played host Genesee in a second round match.
Prairie scored the first 2 points of the first game on a pair of aces by Schwartz but then ran into a lot of trouble. Genesee scored 9 straight points for a 2-9 lead.
The Bulldogs eventually built a 6-21 lead as they threatened to blow Prairie out of the gym.
Prigge scored a sideout kill and then McWilliams served Prairie back to respectability in the game. She served 7 straight points to pull the Pirates within 14-21. She had 4 aces while Prigge had a pair of kills and Uhlenkott had a block.
Prairie got their closest at 17-23 after 2 kills by Lockett before Genesee finished off the game with a kill and an ace.
Prairie again fell behind in the second game 0-3 and 3-7.
They rallied back and took their first lead at 12-11 on a kill by Uhlenkott.
A joust at the net and then a block, both by Uhlenkott had Prairie up 15-12. Prairie had their biggest lead at 18-14 after an ace by Lockett and a block by Schlader.
They held the lead until Genesee tied it at 20-20 then they took the lead on a block. Prairie tied it at 21 on a kill by Shears but Genesee answered back with 3 straight points.
Prairie fought off one game point on a block by Lockett but the game ended on an under the net violation.
The third game saw Prairie fall behind 5-11 before fighting back to an 11-11 tie as Prigge had 2 kills, Lockett had a block, Forsmann had 2 kills and Shears had an ace.
Genesee came right back with a 7-point run for an 11-18 lead and controlled the rest of the game as Prairie got no closer than 4 at 18-22 before falling by 6.
Schlader had 11 kills in the match, including a block, with 7 assists and 1 ace. Shears had 6 kills and 2 aces. Uhlenkott had 6 kills, including 2 blocks, and 2 aces. Prigge had 6 kills. Lockett had 5 kills, including 2 blocks, plus 3 assists and 3 aces. Forsmann had 3 kills. Schwartz had 16 assists and 3 aces. McWilliams had 1 assist and 4 aces.
Prairie got to play one last match in the Prairie gym as they hosted Potlatch in a District elimination match.
The opening game saw Prairie fall behind 3-7 then rally back to a 9-8 lead as Shears served 4 straight points with an ace, 2 kills by Prigge and a kill by Forsmann.
Potlatch came right back with their own 4 point serving run to take a 9-13 lead.
Prairie tied it at 13 with a 3-point run by McWilliams and Potlatch responded with a run to take a 14-18 lead.
Potlatch then held onto the lead until Prairie tied it at 23 with an ace by Shears. Another ace gave Prairie a game-point opportunity but Potlatch fought it off.
A tip by Lockett gave Prairie another game-point chance. Potlatch came back with 2 points for their own game point chance. A block by Uhlenkott tied it but Potlatch answered with a kill. A kill by Uhlenkott was answered by a kill by Potlatch to make it 27-28.
Schlader scored a kill to tie it then Shears scored a kill when her spike bounced off Potlatch’s blockers and went out of bounds. Prairie finally got the game winner in their third game-point chance when Schwartz pushed the ball to an open back corner for a kill.
Potlatch jumped to an early lead in the second game but Prairie came back and took their first lead during a 5-point serving run by Schlader. A kill by Prigge tied it at 6. That was followed by an ace, a kill by Forsmann, a kill by Prigge and another kill by Forsmann for a 10-6 lead.
Prairie led by as many as 6 at 14-8 after a kill by Uhlenkott but Potlatch answered back and took back the lead at 15-16.
A kill by Lockett and then an ace by her put Prairie back on top.
Potlatch took back the lead twice at 17-18 and 18-19. A kill by Shears tied it at 19 and a kill by Forsmann put Prairie ahead. Potlatch tied it but a kill by Prigge put Prairie back on top and Shears was then able to serve out the game. Forsmann won a joust at the net. A crosscourt kill by Lockett was followed by a kill to the back line by Prigge. Prigge then finished the game with a spike off of a Potlatch block.
Prairie trailed for nearly all of the third game as Potlatch tried to stave off elimination. The Loggers led by as many as 8 at 10-18. Prairie got back into it with a serving run by Schlader who scored the sideout to put her at the line. Schlader served 2 aces. Forsmann scored a kill and then Schlader had 2 more aces to pull the Pirates within 1 at 18-19.
Prairie finally took their first lead of the game when Lockett scored a kill to make it 23-22. Potlatch tied it with a kill but then missed their serve to put Prairie at match point at 24-23. Shears then scored the match-winning kill.
Prigge had 13 kills to lead the team. Forsmann had 10 kills. Uhlenkott had 9 kills, including a block, plus an ace. Shears had 8 kills, 3 assists and 2 aces. Schlader had 8 kills, including a block, 26 assist and 5 aces. Lockett had 7 kills, 2 assists and 4 aces. Schwartz had 2 kills, 16 assists and 1 ace. McWilliams had 1 kill.
Prairie knew coming in they would have to beat either Genesee or Troy to advance to State and it came down to this elimination match at Genesee on Thursday, Oct. 22. The winner would clinch a trip to state and the loser would be done for the season.
It did not start well for Prairie as Genesee jumped out to leads of 0-4 and 2-7.
Uhlenkott served Prairie back within 1 point with 3 aces.
Prairie couldn’t get over the hump to take the lead though as they fell back to as many as 5 points behind at 7-12 and 12-17.
After an ace by Shears they got back within 1 point at 19-20 but again Genesee held them off, scoring the next 3 points and wound up winning the game by 4, 21-25.
Prairie scored the first 2 points of the second game but Genesee came back took a 5-7 lead.
Two kills by Prigge and an ace by Shears put Prairie back on top at 8-7 but that was the last time Prairie would lead in the game. A missed serve tied it and Genesee took the lead. Prairie tied it on a kill by Schlader but Genesee then scored the next 5 points. Genesee led by as many as 6 at 12-18 and 13-19.
A missed Genesee serve opened an opportunity for Prairie and Schlader served an ace. A kill each by Forsmann and Prigge and another ace by Schlader cut the deficit to 1 at 18-19.
Prairie managed to tie it at 20 on a kill by Schlader but Genesee answered and then scored the next 4 points to win by 5.
In the third game Prairie fell behind early but with McWilliams serving turned a 4-7 deficit into a 9-7 lead. Prigge scored the sideout kill then McWilliams served 2 aces. Schlader and Lockett each added a kill.
Genesee came back to tie it at 9 before Schlader scored a kill on a free ball for a 10-9 lead.
After Genesee again tied it, a kill each by Schlader and Schwartz made it 12-10. That turned out to be Prairie’s last lead as Genesee scored 3 straight points to retake the lead.
Prairie was able to tie it at 13, 14 and 16 but Genesee answered each time. At 16-16 Genesee scored the sideout then 4 more while serving for a 16-21 lead.
Twice Prairie got back within 2 at 21-23 and 22-24 before Genesee ended their season.
Schlader had 14 kills, 14 assists and 2 aces to lead Prairie. Prigge had 9 kills. Schwartz had 5 kills, 8 assists and 1 ace. Uhlenkott had 5 kills, including 2 blocks, with 2 assists and 3 aces. Lockett had 5 kills, including 1 block, with 2 assists and 1 ace. Shears had 5 kills, 5 assists and 2 aces. McWilliams had 1 kill, 4 assists and 3 aces. Forsmann had 1 kill.
Prairie ends their season with a third place finish at District and a 15-7 overall record.
The District tournament followed the chalk as there wasn’t a single match won by the lower seed.