Sandpoint finishes 10th at Linda Sheridan Volleyball Classic

After losing five straight matches, Sandpoint volleyball was looking to get back on track at the Linda Sheridan Volleyball Classic this past weekend.

And the Bulldogs certainly did that, finishing in solo 10th at the 64-team tournament in Spokane on Saturday.

Sandpoint started competition with pool play Friday night against St. John (WA). Sandpoint won 25-13, 25-23 and then played Wenatchee early Saturday morning and beat them 28-26, 25-15.

In their third and final pool play match, the Bulldogs took down Lewiston 26-24, 25-19 to remain undefeated and advance to the platinum bracket where the tournament’s top 16 teams were.

Sandpoint volleyball head coach Karen Alsager said her team had been struggling with the mental side of the game during their losing streak but that changed Saturday.

“You never know how they are going to come out but after we starting winning in our morning pool play it was like they starting getting their confidence back and they started to play more like the team that I remembered at the start of the season,” she said, “so I just think we needed to get some W’s just to work it out.”

Bracket play was double elimination so the Bulldogs could afford to lose once without their tournament hopes coming to an end. Unfortunately, Sandpoint lost its first match of the round 25-21, 25-20 to Lakeside, who finished in a four-way tie for fifth at the tournament.

But with their backs against the wall, the Bulldogs were able to stay alive and pull out a 25-9 victory over St. Marie’s. Sandpoint then outlasted Grahman-Kapowsin 25-16 to advance to the final match in the platinum bracket.

The opponent was Coeur d’Alene. A familiar opponent that the Bulldogs lost to in four sets on Sept. 10. However, Sandpoint was unable to get revenge as they fell 25-16, 25-16.

Alsager said she was happy with her team’s performance throughout the tournament.

“It felt good,” she said. “It felt better stepping on the court to meet another opponent having a little bit more confidence that we would play well.”

She also said her team is starting to find an identity.

“A lot of our starters graduated last year so these guys are trying to figure out what is their volleyball personality and that takes awhile to figure out and they took some good steps in that direction [Saturday],” she said.

Senior Jenny Slaveck led the Bulldogs with 26 kills in the tournament and senior Katie Korn added 19 kills and seven aces.

Junior Kaylee Banks helped the Bulldogs offensive attack with 33 set assists and junior Bella Phillips led the team with 10 blocks.

Junior Gabby Hicks also had a strong showing with 18 kills and seven blocks.

The Bulldogs also saw the return of junior Kinzie Ward, who had been out since Sept. 9 with a concussion, and Alsager said her presence and passing really helped the team in the tournament.

Moving forward, Alsager said her team will look to build off this performance in league play.

“Our league is tough but its nice to have challenging matches to help you improve,” she said. “I just hope we show and play with intensity and passion for every league match that we have left.”

Sandpoint will have a full week off before they face Lewiston 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Les Rogers Court.

Alsager said the extra time between matches will be beneficial for the Bulldogs.

“I think its going to help us because we’ll get rested,” she said, “they’ll get caught up on their school work and we can take a portion of our game and really focus on it without having to try and focus on 10 things the night before a match, we can focus on two or three things.”