5 area teams State-bound in volleyball

The sun rises in the East and sets in the West and Troy and Genesee are State-bound.

Both perennial volleyball powerhouses have state tournament berth streaks of at least 20 years with Troy having not missed the tournament since the 20th century.

While Troy and Genesee are used to long bus rides this time of year, Prairie of the 2A Whitepine League, St. John Bosco of the 1A Whitepine League and Grangeville of the 3A Central Idaho League put together excellent seasons to punch their respective tickets to their state tournaments.

The Trojans are hunting for their fourth straight state title.

All six state tournaments — 1A, 2A and 3A including teams with local ties — get underway today and conclude Saturday.

In the 1A tournament, eighth-seeded St. John Bosco will challenge No. 1 Rockland at 4 p.m. Pacific and No. 4 Genesee will challenge No. 5 Grace Lutheran at 6 p.m. Pacific today at Canyon Ridge High School in Twin Falls.

In 2A action, No. 6-seeded Prairie will play No. 3 Hagerman at noon Pacific and No. 1 Troy will meet No. 8 Genesis Prep at 4 p.m. Pacific today at Jerome High School.

The University of Idaho’s Memorial Gym will host the 3A tournament in which Grangeville will clash with Nampa Christain at 7 p.m. today in Moscow.

Troy and Genesee build on legacies

The Troy Trojans graduated a talented senior class last year, leaving them with three seniors and just one other player who had played in the state tournament last year, Troy coach Deborah Blazzard said.

Despite such an inexperienced roster, the Trojans are 26-1 and 14-0 in the Whitepine League.

The Trojans’ three-headed current senior class includes outside hitter Teagan Gale, libero Nicole Hunter and setter Ashlyn Strunk. Freshman Emma Wells started the year with an injury but since returning has steadily improved.

Blazzard said she realized during the season that her team was special. The Trojans were trailing Sandpoint by 10 points earlier in the season. She had already accepted the fact that Troy would likely lose that set before her team surprised her and came back to win.

Then, the trailing Trojans kept conquering their opponents after falling behind by deficits of sometimes six to eight points, including in matches versus Moscow and Lewiston, Blazzard said.

“These girls are pretty special, and it’s a different kind of special,” Blazzard said. “They have this grit about them, and they just know that they can come back. And I haven’t really seen that with any of my other teams, and I don’t even know how to describe that, except for special.”

The three-time reigning state champions and winners of five of the last seven Idaho 1A DI championships (now called 2A) will go for four in a row beginning at 4 p.m. Pacific today against Genesis Prep at Jerome High School.

Genesee has a similar tradition of excellence, making the tournament for some 20 straight years, Genesee coach Pete Crowley said.

Crowley coached the last state-champion Genesee squad in 2013.

This year was Genesee’s first dropping down to the new 1A classification and first year in a different league than Troy.

The Bulldogs responded by going 23-4 and 10-0 in their new league.

“Every year it’s difficult, every year it’s hard, every year it’s a new set of girls on the team so really proud of them,” Crowley said.

Seniors Makayla Herman and Kendra Meyer set the tone for Genesee. There’s also junior Chloe Grieser, who posted 14 kills and 15 digs in the Bulldogs’ 1A championship win over St. John Bosco on Oct. 24.

St. John Bosco’s tenacity earned it its first state berth ever

The St. John Bosco Patriots are headed to the state tournament for the first time in school history.

The Patriots faced Genesee three times in the season’s final week, including in the 1A Whitepine League final, before extending their season with a state play-in match against Coeur Du Christ in Coeur d’Alene on Saturday.

The Patriots are led by Savannah Perrin and Miah Mager, who each lead a team with a knack for racking up digs. This ability led to several rallys in their 1A championship game versus Genesee on Oct. 24.

“I have said this many times to never underestimate these girls, because they don’t need any encouraging themselves,” St. John Bosco coach Jamie Johnson said. “They themselves just want it that bad and I think that was just one of those times they really wanted it.”

Johnson said her girls had their sights set on State. Sure enough, the Patriots will play top-seeded Rockland at 4 p.m. Pacific today at Canyon Ridge High School in Twin Falls.

Prairie, Grangeville excel

The Praire Pirates swept Potlatch in the consolation match of their 2A district championship.

The Pirates are paced by Lexi Schumacher, who brings excellent passing and hitting to the court.

“She really has been a cornerstone for us. She’s a great passer, she can set if she needs to, she’s got power behind her hits and it’s hard to stop her hits,” Prairie coach Julie Schumacher said. “I told her it had to happen, she can’t let up.”

Julie Schumacher said her team’s energy has been key to their success.

“We knew we had the skill to get the job done but it was putting al the skills together — making it work — and I feel like they came out (against Potlatch), the girls wanted it bad enough that they knew they had to put it all together, they put it all together it was perfect.”

Prairie last made state in 2018 — Julie Schumacher’s second year on the job. The Pirates were back-to-back state champions in 2014-15.

“We’ve wanted it for a long time,” Julie Schumacher said.

The Grangeville Bulldogs have also waited a long time for State. Coach Kelcey Edwards led Grangeville to State in 2016 and, in the second year of his second stint with the team, has the Bulldogs back after winning their district title over Priest River.

The Bulldogs have been anchored by the senior leadership of Adalei Lefebvre and Madalyn Green and the serving and attacking prowess of juniors Addie Vandarwall and Caryss Barger.

Edwards said once his team realized it could win consistently, the team got on a roll, winning 10 of its last 13 matches.

“I believed we could do this, we could make it to State,” Edwards said. “I’d say part way through the year the girls bought in.”

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.