Wahlin serves Bulldogs past Hawks

SANDPOINT — The match high 12 kills have come to be expected from Sandpoint senior outside hitter Piper Wahlin, but it was her dominating jump serves that propelled the Bulldogs to a 25-16, 25-14, 25-13 sweep over Lakeland Thursday night at Les Rogers Court.

Wahlin had seven aces, and her powerful jump serve, which dips hard as it crosses the net, led to seven and six point service runs as the Hawks had a hard time handling the bombs.

Koko James added 14 assists and eight digs, and Kaiti Lunde had two blocks as the Bulldogs (7-1, 2-0 4A IEL) got contributions from a host of players off their deep bench.

“Everybody did a little bit of something tonight,” said head coach Karen Alsager, facing a dilemma any coach would love. “We’re trying to get all of our hitters in the game to be as well rounded as we can. When you’ve got this much talent, how do you get them all to play? It’s tough as a coach.”

Alyana Watson had 14 digs, Jamie Quillin seven kills, Jordan Thomas 12 set assists and Kaitlyn Whitesitt three blocks to lead Lakeland, which got into some long and entertaining rallies with Sandpoint.

“Great defense, I’m very happy with how we played,” said Lakeland coach Claudia Collins, who felt her team also blocked well. “We didn’t pass well on the serve receive. We don’t practice against the jump serve so it kind of freaks you out.”

Sandpoint hosts Lewiston on Saturday.