Pocatello, Idaho Falls, Bonneville win first-round matches to open state runs
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IDAHO FALLS — The 5A State Volleyball Championships are underway at the Mountain America Center in Idaho Falls, and the local teams are undefeated in the opening round.
Idaho Falls, Pocatello and Bonneville each earned round-one victories to advance into the winners bracket with the No. 1 seed Twin Falls Bruins.
Here is a complete rundown of Thursday afternoon’s action.
No. 3 Idaho Falls beats No. 6 Columbia, 3-0
The Tigers dominated their way to a 25-9 first-set victory, led by towering duo of Leah Thomas and Emma Vollmer.
The second set, though, saw numerous service and passing errors, and violations by both teams. In the end, Idaho Falls overcame a late surge from the Wildcats to earn a 25-16 victory.
Columbia refused to go away without a fight in the third set, putting together a pair of runs to erase an early deficit. Once again, Idaho Falls leaned on Thomas and Vollmer to finish a 3-0 sweep with a 25-17 third-set victory.
Thomas dominated in all facets, finishing the match with 16 kills, one block and one service ace. Vollmer added five kills, one block and two aces.
No. 2 Pocatello beats No. 7 Wood River, 3-1
Pocatello was never in complete control of any single set, but were still able to take an impressive victory over the Wolverines.
The Thunder offense seemed slightly out of rhythm every time Abby Lusk rotated to the back line. Despite an inefficient match however, Jakobi Nebeker did enough to drive Pocatello on those rotations.
Poky endured a late Wood River rally in the first set to escape with a 25-23 victory. The Wolverines put together another late rally in the second and, this time, would not be stopped, scoring eight of the set’s final 11 points to even the match, 1-1, with a 26-24 set win.
In the third and fourth sets, middle blocker Kannasyn Garza joined Lusk and Nebeker both on the attack and by putting up a defensive wall. Garza blocked four Wood River attacks in the fourth and final set alone.
The Thunder closed out the match with 25-18, 25-21 set victories.
Garza finished with five kills and four blocks. Lusk finished the match with 13 kills and two blocks, and Nebeker added 11 kills and four service aces.
No. 8 Twin Falls beats No. 1 Lakeland, 3-0
The bracket’s top-seeded Lakeland Hawks were sent to the losers bracket following an upset sweep by the eighth-seeded Twin Falls Bruins in straight sets.
No. 4 Bonneville beat No. 5 Middleton, 3-1
The Bees overcame a second-set loss to earn the match victory, led by Shayla Belnap.
Bonneville seized complete control in the third and fourth sets, winning 25-17 and 25-13.
Friday’s schedule
Day two will begin with losers-bracket matches. Wood River and Columbia will get things started at 9 a.m., with Lakeland and Middleton to follow at 11 a.m.
Both losers will be out, while the winners will advance to play with losers of the winners-bracket matches.
Idaho Falls and Pocatello will take the stage at 1:30 p.m. to start the matches on the winners side. Twin Falls and Bonneville will follow at 3:30 p.m.
The winners of the early afternoon games will not return to the court until Saturday morning, while the losers will play win-or-go-home matches in the evening.