Bonneville, Rigby, Pocatello kicked out of tournament; Idaho Falls, Madison will play in the semifinals

Idaho Falls — Pocatello and Lakeland treated the crowd to everything you’d expect from a one-two punch. There were long rallies, thunderous outbursts, suffocating blocks and impressive undercuts.

Unfortunately for the Thunder and their fans, there weren’t many Pocatello wins as the Hawks eliminated Pocatello in the final game at the Mountain America Center on Friday night. Bonneville and Rigby were also eliminated earlier in the evening.

Pocatello came in as the No. 2 seed and knocked off Wood River to open its tournament Thursday. Lakeland, seeded No. 1, lost its tournament opener to No. 8 Twin Falls.

And after the Thunder suffered their first loss to Idaho Falls on Friday morning and the Hawks rolled past Middleton, the top two seeds in the 5A tournament squared off much earlier than many expected.

Lakeland took the lead by scoring the first four points of the game.

The Thunder put together a mini-rally, but were never able to rally back and lost the first set, 25-17.

Lakeland’s early lead again in the second didn’t sink Pocatello, which rallied again behind the play of senior Jacoby Nebecker.

Nebeker has been one half of the Thunder’s offensive attack all season, joining junior Abby Lusk. However, in Pocatello’s first two matches this weekend, she wasn’t as effective as her team had hoped.

She was effective against Lakeland, especially in the second set, where she had seven kills.

The Thunder took the second set, 25-23, to tie the match.

The third set saw a relentless and even attack as Nebeker and Lusk did their best to keep the Thunder’s offense going.

Pokey’s dynamic duo had eight kills in the third set alone. But the Hawks’ three-headed attack of Alyssa Rickman, Landry Simon and Zia Meunier was too much for the Thunder as Lakeland won the third set, 25-19.

Pocatello scraped and battled and got huge contributions from Katie Matulis, but the depth of the top-ranked team in Division 5A proved to be too much as the Hawks ended Pocatello’s season with a 25-20 fourth-set win.

Munier led Lakeland, finishing with 20 kills, four blocks and two aces. Simon had 15 kills and Rickman added 10 kills.

Lusk led the Thunder with 17 kills, while Nebeker tallied 13 kills and one block.

Owyhee knocks out Rigby, 3-0

Rigby staged a rare comeback — losing the first two sets and winning the last three — to stay alive on Friday morning. But Owihi allowed even that door to be opened.

As they did against the Eagle, the Trojans came back in the third set. But the Storm nipped it in the bud, capping the momentum with a 25-23 sets victory.

Wood River knocks off Bonneville, 3-1

The Bees, who lost to Twin Falls in the afternoon, stayed on the court for the evening game and were released by Wood River.

Bonneville took the third set 25-14 after losing the first two, 25-18 and 25-16, and scored extra points in the fourth. But the Wolverines had enough to prevent a fifth set, taking the fourth, 26-24.

Saturday

With their losses, Bonneville, Pocatello and Rigby were eliminated.

That leaves just two survivors in District 5-6 between the 6A and 5A tournaments.

Idaho Falls is the only 5A representative with wins over Columbia and Pocatello. The Tigers will return to the court at 11 a.m. Saturday to face the Cinderella of the 5A tournament, Twin Falls. The No. 8 seed followed up Lakeland’s upset win over Bonneville on Friday.

The winner of the match will go directly to the final, where he will need to lose twice to be eliminated. The loser will face the winner of the Wood River-Lakeland matchup in the morning session.

In 6A, No. 2 Madison remains undefeated with wins over Rocky Mountain and Owyhee.

The Bobcats will face No. 1 Skyview at 11 a.m. with the same potential results against Idaho Falls and Twin Falls.

Beat around

Bear Lake remains undefeated in the 4A tournament at Lake City High School.

The same can be said for Malad in Group 3A, which plays the University of Idaho.

Butte County is still in the hunt, and undefeated as well, in the 2A tournament at Jerome High School.

Grace Lutheran, which earned a playoff spot via play-in, remains undefeated in 1A at Canyon Ridge. They are joined by Rockland, which lost to Grace Lutheran on Friday afternoon.

All six state champions will be decided Saturday when the IHSAA volleyball season ends.