History nearly made: Skyview volleyball comes up just short in 5A state championship match

The Skyview volleyball team was on the ropes time and again at the Idaho 5A state volleyball championship. And time and again the Hawks responded.

Eventually, though, there was one hurdle they couldn’t get over.

After defeating Madison in the first round of the championship match to force a final match, Skyview finally ran out of gas, falling to the Bobcats 25-18, 25-23 on Saturday at Ridgevue High School in Nampa.

“I love those girls,” Skyview coach Kevin Murphy said after the loss. “The effort they give, they’re role models for young girls that want to be athletes. They’re the picture of hard work and never quitting.”

[Related: 5A to 1A scores, final brackets]

Madison defeated Lake City in five sets in a match that started at 11 a.m. Saturday. That win advanced the Bobcats to the championship round, which started at 4 p.m.

Meanwhile, Skyview defeated Timberline in a three-set match that started at 9 a.m.. From there, Skyview defeated Lake City in a five-set marathon that Lake City seemed in control of in the fourth set. But the ever-resilient Hawks rallied to win claim the victory.

“When (Skyview) was playing Lake City, my girls were asking me who I thought it was going to be,” said Madison coach Meranda Maestas. “I said I think it’s going to be Skyview, and my girls said, ‘But they’re down.’ I said, ‘I know, but there’s a lot to be said about experience … and those girls have it.’”

After Skyview pulled off the comeback win, with no more than a 15-minute break, it was time for the Hawks to face Madison in the championship round, facing this scenario: They had to defeat Madison twice to win the state title, while the Bobcats just needed one victory.

Oh, and Madison defeated Skyview in three sets in the second round of the tournament on Friday.

Guess what? Skyview won the first round of that championship match, forcing the winner-take-all final showdown.

The teams traded momentum time and again in the raucous gym, but Madison outlasted Skyview to earn its first state title since 1992.

Murphy choked back tears as he thanked his players on the court after the match. The final player he introduced to the crowd was Morgan Bower, a senior libero who will play at BYU next season.

“We wouldn’t have played in four state championships in a row without Morgan Bower,” Murphy said.

Skyview won back-to-back titles at the 4A level the past two seasons. Bower, her two sisters, Whitney and Eden, and the rest of the Hawks roster was trying to get the 5A title after making that jump. After an undefeated regular season, the Hawks were oh-so-close to that title. But it wasn’t to be.

“We lost yesterday, and it made hard for us, because we knew we’d have to play twice (in the championship round),” Morgan Bower said. “But we worked so hard, and we stayed calm. We play together, and I’m so proud of how we did. No matter what the results were, we did amazing. We took them to a second game. No one does that. But it was amazing, and we were tired and we still pushed.”

Murphy knew his players would give nothing less than a total effort.

“We left it all on the floor, and you can’t ask anymore of those kids,” he said.