Neumann, Search lead Bulldogs past 5A Vikings
—Photo by ERIC PLUMMER Sandpoint senior Laney Search serves up one of her three aces on the night in a hard-fought five-set win over Coeur d’Alene.
SANDPOINT — Some powerful hitting at the net from Grace Hicks and Kayla Neumann, along with strong back row defense from Cheyenne Nicholson and Shelby Kluver, helped lead the Bulldogs to a 30-28, 24-26, 25-13, 24-26, 15-12 five-set win over the 5A Vikings on Thursday in nonleague volleyball action at Les Rogers Court.
Neumann finished with 15 kills, 14 digs and three aces, while Hicks hit double figures with 11 kills to lead the attack. Many of those kills came from deft sets by Laney Search, who ran the offense and left some ink on the stat page with nine kills, 33 set assists, 14 digs and three aces.
The Bulldogs (6-4) played with great energy all night, extending rallies with some gritty defense, led by Kluver with eight kills and nine digs, and Cheyenne Nicholson, who finished with 10 digs and kept a lot of points alive. Kaitlan Ward finished with three aces, and served big in some key runs.
Grace Kirscher was a factor at the net, finishing with a team-high five blocks to go with nine kills.
Sandpoint is at the Lakeland Invite on Saturday.
n Badgers sweep Wampus Cats
CLARK FORK — The Wampus Cats got strong back row play from Nona Young and Grace Shelton, but it wasn’t enough playing up in class, as Bonners Ferry won 25-18, 25-17, 25-21 over host Clark Fork in nonleague volleyball action Thursday night.
Miranda Wenk tallied eight kills, Jadyn Bennett 12 digs, Hannah Olsen 16 assists and Micah Whittaker three aces to lead the 3A Badgers to the sweep.
Brooke Stevens finished with 11 assists to lead the Wampus Cats (1-1), who got four kills apiece from Hailey Briston and Allison Warner, and three digs each from Young and Shelton.
Wampus Cats head coach Cindy Derr felt her team played with the Badgers for the most part, but still needs to work on serving and cutting down on errors.
“We finally are moving and playing as a team. Bonners Ferry has a tall front row and we were struggling with their right side attack,” said Derr. “Nona and Grace played really well in the back row. Both of those players not only did a good job playing, but they are team leaders, always encouraging the other players. All in all, they came together as a team and did very well tonight. I was really please with the girls, they stayed right with Bonners Ferry.”
Ali Sutton added two blocks for the Cats, who now face Clark Fork in Superior, Montana on Monday.