Coeur d’Alene, Lake City and Lakeland will play Saturday matches for opportunities to advance to Idaho’s high school volleyball state tournaments. The three North Idaho programs were among teams assigned play-in matchups Wednesday.
Coeur d’Alene and Lake City Play-In Matches
Coeur d’Alene, 23-8 and seeded 10th by MaxPreps, will travel to face top-seeded Rigby, 35-5, at noon Pacific time Saturday in a 6A play-in match. The Vikings are seeking their fourth consecutive state tournament appearance.
Lake City, 19-10 and seeded ninth, will travel to face eighth-seeded Owyhee of Nampa, 19-11, at noon Saturday. The Timberwolves are seeking their first state appearance since 2022.
Winners of the two 6A matches will advance to the state tournament, with games scheduled to be played at Coeur d’Alene, Lake City or Post Falls high schools beginning next Thursday. Tournament locations for the 6A, 5A and 4A competitions will be determined after the play-in rounds, and brackets will be reseeded.
Lakeland, Timberlake and Priest River Matchups
Lakeland, 15-14 and seeded seventh, will travel to fifth-seeded Hillcrest of Ammon, 21-16, at noon Saturday. The Hawks placed third at state last year. Hillcrest won last year’s tournament at Timberline High School in Boise.
Lakeland lost to Lewiston in five sets in Tuesday’s 5A Region 1 championship in Rathdrum. In the other 5A play-in match, third-seeded Bonneville of Idaho Falls, 21-13, will host 15th-seeded Vallivue of Caldwell, 14-11.
Timberlake, the 4A District 1 champion, is seeded 12th and will travel to sixth-seeded Snake River of Blackfoot, 20-14, for an 11 a.m. Saturday match. Timberlake is 8-9. The Tigers would have received an automatic berth with a top-eight MaxPreps ranking. Bonners Ferry, which won the Intermountain League title, was seeded 13th and did not qualify.
In 3A, sixth-seeded Priest River, 15-4, will host ninth-seeded Melba, 14-16, at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Spartans are seeking consecutive state tournament appearances. Other 3A matches are Nampa Christian against Marsing and West Side against Ririe.
In 1A, Coeur du Christ, 13-5, will face third-seeded Council, 19-9, at noon Saturday. The Saints are seeking a second consecutive state appearance after going 0-2 at last year’s tournament at Coeur d’Alene High School.