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| JEROME A. POLLOS/Press North Idaho College's Marketa Hanzlova gets low to bump a ball to a teammate during Thursday night's match against Salt Lake Community College. |
Cardinals fall to Salt Lake, lose chance to host regionals
By JASON ELLIOTT
Press correspondent
COEUR d'ALENE -- The road to the Region 18 tournament just got a little longer for the No. 1 ranked North Idaho Cardinals following a 25-20, 25-23, 22-25, 25-16 loss to fourth-ranked Salt Lake Community College in a Scenic West Athletic Conference matchup Thursday night at Rolly Williams Court.
Salt Lake, which defeated North Idaho on Oct. 10 in four games, took the opening two games and held off a late Cardinal rally in the fourth for the win, clinching home-court advantage for next week's Region 18 tournament in Salt Lake City.
Had North Idaho defeated Salt Lake, NIC would have hosted regionals next Friday and Saturday.
"I think when we make mistakes, they start stringing together," Salt Lake coach Sue Dulaney said. "We just wanted to stay close. NIC is a great team and we had to battle for each point. We know what it feels like. This was a great match."
Salt Lake (25-6, 8-1) travels to College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls on Saturday. NIC plays host to Snow.
"We've been preparing for this weekend the last two weeks," Dulaney said. "We got a scare from Snow. We're trying to bring the fight each game. To play the No. 1 and No. 6 team, it's a tough road, but to get to nationals we were going to have to do that anyway."
North Idaho (26-5, 7-2), returned home for the first time since Oct. 3 and had a hard time getting its attack going against Salt Lake's middle blockers.
"We weren't ready tonight," NIC coach Chris Kosty said. "Our practices were good. We played like this before against them. We were ready for a battle, but not this kind of battle."
Salt Lake hitter Shelbi Zaldain had 16 kills, two aces and four digs. LaKell Havens had 10 kills and six aces, Ame White eight kills, nine digs and Catalina Charry 41 assists for the Bruins.
"She (Zaldain) has been streaky all year," Dulaney said. "I've been telling her to stay focused on each point. She's a great athlete and has been leading our team the last two weeks. She's really coming on."
Callie Johns had 13 kills, two digs and four blocks for NIC. Fei Geo had 12 kills and 10 digs, Maddeline Dolny 40 assists and 11 digs, Kaylee Ponce 13 digs and eight kills and Marketa Hanzlova eight kills and eight digs for the Cardinals.
"Callie played amazing tonight," Kosty said. "She played the way I thought the entire team would. She showed up and took it to Salt Lake."
