Bengals bring Bulldogs to heel

Late in a third set that had turned more complicated than it initially appeared, Lewiston volleyball coach Halle White stood by the sideline conversing with senior defensive specialist Sophie Canner, who was waiting to serve on match point, until the very end of a timeout called by visiting Sandpoint.

“I was telling her that she should not stand on the service line for too long, because the whole point of the timeout was to make her miss her serve,” White said. “I was distracting her, telling her not to miss.”

It worked. Canner squared up to launch a solid serve that helped the Bengals get on top of a rally ending in a winning shot tipped over the net by senior middle blocker Jordynn Albright.

The final scoreline read 25-19, 25-11, 25-23 for the Bengals, who moved to 14-3 on the season and 2-1 in Inland Empire League play.

Senior leaders come in clutch

After dominating the second set, Lewiston looked poised to do the same in the third with an early 13-7 lead, but a strong run of serving from Sandpoint’s Aubree Lane helped the Bulldogs (0-13, 0-6) pull back to 13-13. The teams traded leads for the next few minutes and ended up in a pivotal tie at 23-23 before an assertive Canner serve and a spike from Addy McKarcher that skipped backward off a Sandpoint defender’s arms set the stage for the final point.

McKarcher (14 kills, eight digs), Albright (11 kills, five blocks) and Brooke Bernal (15 digs, four aces) were major statistical contributors for the Bengals as they claimed their ninth consecutive victory. White has seen encouraging signs in the “strong connection” formed in recent weeks between Albright and setter Emery McKarcher, and says that libero Bernal is “unbeatable right now as far as commitment, understanding (and) leadership.”

Making the adjustment

White feels that Sandpoint has made notable strides since the teams’ first meeting of the season, in which Lewiston scored a more routine victory as part of its home Judy Fong Memorial Tournament.

“I’ll give it to them, because they are not going with a traditional route in terms of what volleyball looks like right now,” she said. “They’re running really high sets and hitting high hands and going off the block, which is hard to defend when you’re not used to it. ... It definitely was an adjustment for my blockers, getting them to slow down. And my hitters — they’re so used to trying to get in there and dig that hard down ball versus the high hands ball.”

Taming the Timberwolves?

As they look to take their winning streak into double figures, the Bengals will face a notable challenge this coming Tuesday in the form of visiting Lake City of Coeur d’Alene, which dealt them a straight-sets defeat in their season opener on Sept 3.

How will White and her team approach this bid for vengeance and glory?

“Lake City’s completely opposite of the team we just played,” she said. “Lake City is low and tight and fast, and has traditionally been a challenge for us, so definitely getting into practice tomorrow morning and switching our mindset over.”

Wendt may be contacted at (208) 848-2268, or cwendt@lmtribune.com.