5A or 4A? It doesn’t matter to Skyview volleyball. It keeps winning district titles.
The move to the 5A classification hasn’t slowed the Skyview High volleyball program.
The Hawks won their second straight 5A District Three championship — and ninth district title in a row overall — with a 25-16, 23-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-5 victory over Boise on Thursday evening.
Skyview (16-2) hadn’t lost a single set in the district tournament up until the championship match at Timberline. But the Hawks battled back from a 2-1 deficit to rally and clinch the top seed at next week’s state tournament.
Skyview will face the winner of the state play-in game at 10 a.m. Mountain Time Nov. 1 at either Post Falls or Lake City high schools. Boise (12-7) also advances to the 5A state tournament and will face the Eastern Idaho champ at 9 a.m. Nov. 1.
Skyview coach Kevin Murphy credited his team’s toughness for the win.
“We have kids that have the volleyball bug,” Murphy said. “They love the sport. Good or bad, rain or shine, they are out there and want to play. They want to go out on top.”
Boise nearly forced an if-necessary championship match Thursday. Leading 2-1, the Brave tied the fourth set at 15. But a pair of points courtesy of senior setter Karen Murphy’s ace and fellow senior Molly Anderson’s kill helped Skyview pull away and win the set 25-20.
“We got in some ruts where we let them get ahead,” Karen Murphy said. “... We just have the desire to win. We play for each other, have each other’s backs, love each other, and I think that showed.”
That volleyball bug showed up again in the fifth set. Skyview looked like its old self, taking advantage of multiple Boise errors and sealing the district title on an ace from freshman Sydney Nay.
Karen Murphy ended the game with nine kills, 28 assists and five aces, while Anderson had 14 kills and 20 digs. The two seniors agreed with their coach about the bug that has infected the Skyview volleyball program.
“(Our success) just shows you what has been built up through the years,” Anderson said. “What our coaches have worked for, and what past generations have worked for. This is all for the program.”
“You have to love (volleyball),” Karen Murphy said. “You have got to want it. We are not just here to go through the motions. We are here to win.”
Eagle (11-6) and Timberline (13-3) have also clinched berths at next week’s state tournament, and Centennial (10-6) will try to qualify through a play-in game Saturday.
Kevin Murphy, whose team took second at state last year, said he knows the competition will only get tougher at the next level.
“I’m just glad we are there,” Kevin Murphy said. “There are not going to be any easy games.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2019 at 10:39 PM.