By James Hernandez

First year volleyball coach Chris Vergnaud and his Lady Coyotes prepared to turn the page on the regular season and begin its quest for postseason glory Friday afternoon in Twin Falls, Idaho where they hoped to upset the apple cart in the 2018 Region XVIII tournament.

#4 seeded Southern Nevada opened up its tournament versus 5^th seeded Colorado Northwestern, a team the Lady Coyotes defeated twice during the regular season. CSN was on the attack early, outlasting the Spartans (25-19) in the opening set of the match. Set two saw the Lady Coyotes continue to put in work around the net, asserting their dominance on the way to a convincing (25-14) victory in set two. Sensing blood in the water, Southern Nevada pounced on an overmatched CNCC squad, eliminating the Spartans from the postseason in straight sets (25-19, 25-14 and 25-16) to punch its ticket to the Region XVIII tournament semi-finals. Match standouts for the Lady Coyotes included Marta Ellsworth (13 kills), Nickelle Fleming (5 blocks), Kaylee Wilcox (31 assists) and Jacquie Yapching (16 digs).

After dispatching the Spartans in straight sets, the Lady Coyotes were rewarded with a semi-finals matchup with top-seeded tournament host Southern Idaho. The Golden Eagles were 2-0 versus the Coyotes in the regular season, with only one of the two regular season matches extending past the third set. It was business as usual for CSI in the opening set of the match, using its length and athleticism around the net to claim the first set of the match (13-25). Set two was more competitive overall, however it was the Golden Eagles making a few more plays down the stretch of the set ,to outlast Southern Nevada (17-25) to take a commanding two sets to zero advantage.

With the odds clearly stacked against them, Coach Vergnaud's Coyotes dug down deep to rally and claim set three (25-15). An inspired Southern Nevada team found its second wind in set four and rode that momentum to a (25-20) fourth set victory, tying the match and forcing a deciding, winner-take-all fifth set. The Golden Eagles and Lady Coyotes went point for point in the deciding fifth set. With CSI clinging to a 9-7 advantage, Payton Spoja served the next four points to give the Golden Eagles a 13-8 edge. CSN battled to the very end, but was eventually outlasted (9-15) in the fifth and deciding set of the match.

Despite dropping the match, the entire CSN Volleyball program left Twin Falls with its head held high knowing that these type of growing pains are necessary in order for a program to take that next step and develop into a perennial contender.


Fans your Lady Coyotes have concluded its 2018 season, but make sure to log onto www.csncoyotes.com as well as Twitter @CSN_Vball and Facebook CSNCoyotes to stay updated on Lady Coyotes Volleyball all offseason.