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Pirates beat Lapwai to advance to State
The Prairie Lady Pirates volleyball team qualified for their first state tournament appearance since 2003 with a 4-game win over Lapwai Wednesday, Oct. 19 at the District Tournament in Lewiston. 
Prairie beat Lapwai 25-11, 12-25, 25-19, 25-15 to earn third place at District and their first-ever state berth as a 1-A school. Their last state appearance in 2003 was the final year Prairie was in the 2-A Central Idaho League. They will open State play against District 3 champion Horseshoe Bend at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 28 at the LCSC Activity Center. Prairie opened the match like they were going to blow Lapwai out of the gym as MeShel Rad served Prairie to a 10-1 lead with 8 straight service points including 2 aces plus 4 kills by Tyler Workman and a kill each by Tanna Schlader and Monica Lustig. Later Stephanie Gimmeson served 5 straight points including 3 aces and a kill each by Rad and Schlader to give Prairie a 20-6 lead. Prairie then cruised to the 14-point win with Workman scoring the game winning kill. Then the teams switched ends of the court and it was like two different teams showed up. Lapwai jumped out to a 3-11 lead as it seemed like every spike attempt by Prairie went into the net. Prairie rallied to within two with Demetria Riener serving up 2 aces plus a kill each by Rad and Sam Poxleitner, but Lapwai again took control and wound up outscoring Prairie 2-13 the rest of the game. Game 3 saw the Pirates settle back down and play better if not as dominant as the first game. Schlader served 3 aces in a row to give Prairie a 7-6 lead, their first since the end of the first game. Lapwai came back to take a 10-13 lead but Gimmeson then served up 4 straight aces to put Prairie back on top 15-13. Lapwai was able to tie it at 16 and again at 17and 18. Prairie finally took the lead for good when Lapwai bricked a serve to make it 19-18.  Poxleitner
scored a kill for a 2-point lead but Lapwai cut it back to 1 at 20-19.
Another kill by Poxleitner put Riener on the service line where she was able to serve out the game. She had 2 aces while Rad and Poxleitner each added a kill. Poxleitner’s spike down the sideline was the game-ender. In the fourth game Schlader scored a sideout kill on the opening serve by Lapwai and Megan Sigler followed with 2 aces for a 3-0 lead. Lapwai scored a sideout but Rad answered with a tip for a kill. She then served Prairie to an 8-1 lead with 2 aces plus 2 kills by Workman. Prairie led 13-4 when Poxleitner won a joust at the net but then Lapwai started to rally. The Wildcats are known for their athletic scrappy play where they manage to keep sending the ball back over the net until you make a mistake and they did so in cutting the lead down to 15-12 with Natahnee Spencer providing the kills when they were able to get things set for her. A Prairie time out at that point led to a bricked serve with Rad going to the service line. Workman scored a kill and Rad followed with 2 aces to make it 19-12. Spencer then scored a kill and Lapwai managed to cut the lead to 19-15 before Lapwai’s blockers were called as being in the net on a spike by Workman. Schlader was then able to serve out the match with 5 straight serves where Lapwai was unable to get the ball back over in play. (Technically those may not be all aces but we count them as such.) Workman had 15 kills in the match while Poxleitner had 10. Rad had 10 kills including a stuff and 6 aces. She was server for 18 points, tops on the team. Schlader had 6 kills and 9 aces. Lustig had 5 kills, 2 aces and 18 assists. Sigler had 3 kills, 2 aces and 21 assists. Gimmeson had 7 aces and Riener had 2 kills and 4 aces. Prairie takes a 17-11 record into the state tournament.
Another shot from Loretta Riener's photoshoot of the team at the River. From left are Demetria Riener, Stephanie Gimmeson, Cheryl Gehring, coach Cheyenne Hudson, Sam Poxleitner, MeShel Rad, Natasha Gimmeson, Tyler Workman, Tanna Schlader, Monica Lustig, Leah Holthaus and Megan Sigler. 
A third photo taken at the river. Front from left are Coach Cheyenne Hudson, Tyler Workman, MeShel Rad, Tanna Schlader, Leah Holthaus and Sam Poxleitner. Back from left are Cheryl Gehring, Monica Lustig, Natasha Gimmeson, Demetria Riener, Stephanie "Tink" Gimmeson and Megan Sigler. 
The State volleyball bracket. Prairie is in Match 2 which is set for 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 28. Match 5 is 6 p.m. Friday while Match 7 is 9 a.m. Saturday. Match 9 is at 2 p.m., Match 10 is at 4 p.m. and Match 11 is at 6 p.m. PIRATES GIRLS VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2011 27-Genesee JV Tournament, TBA 30-Tri-match here-vs. Summit, 5 p.m.; vs. Genesee, 8 p.m. Lost to Genesee 0-3, beat Summit 3-1, details next week. 6-Lapwai, there, won 3-2 8-Troy, there, lost 0-3 10-Kendrick Tournament, won 2, lost 2 - beat Orofino 2-1, lost to Summit 0-2, beat C.V. 2-1, lost to Orofino 0-2 in 3rd place match 13-Kamiah, here, lost 0-3 15-Tri-match at Grangeville/Cascade, lost to Cascade 0-2, beat Grangeville 3-1 19-Kendrick, here, won 3-0 24-Clarkston Tournament, TBA, won 4 of 15 games played, Idaho defeated Washington 39-36 27-Highland, here, won 3-0 29-Deary, here, won 3-0 4-Tri-match here, vs. Potlatch, vs. Grangeville, beat Potlatch 3-0, beat Grangeville 3-0 6-CV, Kamiah, V only, 5 p.m., beat C.V. 3-0, lost to Kamiah 2-3 11-Timberline, here, won 3-0 15, 17, 19-District at LCSC--beat C.V. 3-1, lost to Troy 2-3, beat Kendrick 3-1, beat Lapwai 3-1, third at District, qualify for State. 28-29-State at Lewiston, Play at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 28 against District 3 Champion |
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