Bear Lake overpowers American Falls en route to straight-set victory
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AMERICAN FALLS — Using a balanced attack, which saw three different players record at least 10 kills, the Bear Lake Bears earned a road sweep of conference foe American Falls Thursday night.
The Bears (20-3 overall, 3-0 in conference) pushed their current win streak to 10 matches and were, earlier this week, ranked second among all 4A team in the IdahoSports.com. coaches poll, receiving one first-place vote.
“It’s always promising to get a good road win in conference play,” Bears head coach Stephanie Birch said after the match.
The Beavers (3-9, 1-4) were swimming upstream all night as Bear Lake never relinquished control of the match, winning in straight sets: 25-10, 25-9, 25-11.
The Bears were paced by senior Brynlee Birch and junior Kortlyn Skinner, who recorded 12 kills apiece, and freshman Avery Hunter, who contributed 10 of her own.
Junior Berklee Fehringer did her best to slow the Bear attack, recording three blocks to go with three kills for American Falls.
Stephanie spoke about the advantage her team has, being able to attack from three of four different positions — sophomore Halle Wells recorded five kills of her own.
“I feel as if we’re really strong in every rotation — it’s not like we get stuck in one because we’ve got a good player in every (rotation) that we can go to. It’s been really good,” the coach said.
Having won their first three conference matches, Bear Lake controls its own destiny when it comes to playoff positioning. The only other team in the 4A South East Idaho Conference without a loss in conference play is Snake River (8-6-1, 2-0) whom the Bears will face twice in the next week — at home Saturday and on the road next Thursday.
With only five matches left in the regular season, Bear Lake understands winning will guarantee a league title and improved playoff seeding, and Stephanie believes her team is mature enough to understand what it needs to do.
“I’ve got a unique group of girls,” she said. “They don’t need a lot of pushing, they push themselves. They come to practice every single day and work hard. They know how important every match is, so they’re going to show up.”