After finishing as runners-up last year, the Bonneville High School Bees came away as the Idaho 5A (big school) High School State Champions from October 28th-29th. Playing in their home town of Idaho Falls, the state’s mecca for high school volleyball, Bonneville swept away Timberline 3-0 in the 5A Championship game.
With Idaho Falls High School, the defending champions and the traditional state power in 5A, moving down a division, the state tournament was wide open. Bonneville capitalized to win their first state championship since 2009 and 8th of all-time.
The victory could be the start of a run for coach Chantal McMurtrey’s team one that included her two daughters Alexis (freshman) and Kiley (senior). They were the youngest squad in the 5A state tournament with 3 freshmen, 3 sophomores, 4 juniors, and just 2 seniors – Kiley McMurtrey and Michaila Walton.
A major redrawing of classifications at the beginning of this year’s high school season meant a breakup of Idaho Falls’ brutal district. Bonneville, who moved to 5A two years ago, and Idaho Falls, who won the last two 5A titles, were mapped to the same district last season, and Idaho Falls wound up defeating Bonneville in a 5-set championship game slug-fest.
This year, the Idaho Falls Tigers moved to the 4A classification. While ostensibly that would improve their chances, playing against smaller schools and returning the 2015 Idaho Gatorade Player of the Year Maya Taylor, 4A stood up to the new test this year.
Skyview High School in Nampa, winners of 6 consecutive 4A District 3 championships, came away with the first state title in program history with a 5-set win of Idaho Falls. In this century, Skyview has 4 times finished as state runners-up and 5 times finished in 3rd place before finally breaking through this season.
Like Bonneville, Skyview is a very young team. They graduate only one starter from a team that finished the season at 40-3. Junior Weber State commit Dani Nay had 74 kills playing 5 games; while Olivia Bradley had 46 kills and 14 blocks in the two-day tournament.
In the smaller classes, Sugar-Salem won their first title since 2008 in the 3A classificiation, while Nampa Christian won their 8th title thanks to a win over two-time defending champions Malad in a 3-1 game.
In the smallest of divisions, 1A, which is split into two classes, Troy High School (enrollment 135) beat Horseshoe Bend 3-1; while Lighthouse Christian swept Butte County for its 4th title in the last 5 years.
Scores
- 5A – Bonneville def. Timberline 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-16)
- 4A – Skyview def. Idaho Falls 3-2 (25-22, 17-25, 19-25, 25-21, 15-11)
- 3A – Sugar-Salem def. Timberlake 3-0
- 2A – Nampa Christian def. Malad 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-22)
- 1AD1 – Troy def. Horseshoe Bend 3-1
- 1AD2 – Lighthouse Christian def. Butte County 3-0
All-State Teams
5A
Brooke Foster, 6-0, sr., OH, Timberline; Journee Sutton, 5-10, sr., OH, Madison; Kiley McMurtrey, 5-3, sr., LIB, Bonneville; Kendyll Kinzer, 6-0, so, MB, Lewiston; Klaire Mitchell, 5-6, so., S, Lake City; Sade Williams, 5-7, so., OH, Bonneville; Makayla Sorensen, 5-9, fr., OH, Bonneville; Ashley Kaufman, 5-9, so., OH, Lake City.
4A
Maya Taylor, 5-10, OH, Idaho Falls; Dani Nay, jr., OH, Skyview; Maddy Reeb, 5-9, sr., S, Idaho Falls; Olivia Bradley, jr., MB, Skyview; Morgan Harr, 5-5, jr., S, Twin Falls; Morgan Bower, so., LIB, Skyview; Kennedi Evans, 6-2, jr., MB, Twin Falls.
3A
Harley Speth, 5-5, jr., OH, South Fremont; Amanda Rudd, 5-3, sr., LIB, Sugar-Salem; Savanah Crane, 5-11, jr., Sugar-Salem; Courtney Jurgens, 5-1, sr., Timberlake; Madison Jackson, 5-10, so., OH, Parma; Glori Cheevers, 5-8 sr., Timberlake; Addi Gehmlich, 6-0, sr., RS, Sugar-Salem; CJ Davis, 5-7, sr., S, Weiser; Kat Merges, 5-9, sr., OH, Parma.
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