4A state tournament, Kimberly HS

Defending champion: Bonneville

PRESTON INDIANS

Last trip to state: 2017 (two-and-out)

IHSAA state titles: 5 (2002)

First-round opponent: Lakeland (10-6)

Preview:

After two years away, the Indians are back at the state tournament after dominating the three-team 4A District 5.

Preston has won five IHSAA state titles in its history, but all at the 3A level and none since 2002.

After struggling early in the season, the Indians turned things around when senior libero Matti Whitehead returned from an ankle injury, going undefeated in conference play.

Whitehead and senior setter Hannah Stephenson are the experienced leaders for Preston, while sophomore Khloe Hobson provides some youth on the outside and has been the Indians’ most consistent hitter.

Preston plays Lakeland on Friday morning at 8 a.m. in the first match of the 4A tournament.

3A state tournament, Twin Falls HS

Defending champion: Sugar-Salem

AMERICAN FALLS BEAVERS

Last trip to state:

IHSAA state titles: None

First-round opponent: Fruitland

Preview:

After winning the first district title in school history, it’ll be a brand new experience for American Falls at the state tournament. The Beavers haven’t made it to this stage in at least a decade.

Having broken through and snapped Snake River’s run of consecutive state appearances, can the Beavers make a run?

“(The players) are just so excited,” American Falls coach Jami Adair said. “All they can talk about, all they can think about is that we finally achieved the goal we set out to achieve. There’s nerves, but I see determination. They know that, yeah, we made it to state, but we want to make noise at state. We want to show people where American Falls volleyball is now.”

The Beavers face Fruitland, the No. 2 seed from District 3, at 3:30 on Friday. The two teams faced off at the early-season Peg Peterson tournament at Highland, with Fruitland winning.

“They’re going to be a tough team, but I know we can play with them, we can compete,” Adair said. “We really aren’t the same team that we were when we played them at the Peg Peterson.”

Senior outside hitter Emma Barclay has starred for the Beavers all season. She had 21 kills against Snake River in the district championship match. Mitana Robinson, Paige Adair and Lili Bell are other weapons for A.F., while Barclay’s sister, Grace Barclay, plays libero.

2A state tournament, Buhl HS

Defending champion: Firth

BEAR LAKE BEARS

Last trip to state: 2019 (2-2)

IHSAA state titles: 5 (2001)

First-round opponent: Firth

Preview:

Bear Lake is a step ahead of where American Falls is this year. Like A.F. did last week, the Bears broke through last year, making it to the state tournament for the first time since 2011.

Now, they’re looking to make a deep run.

“I think they’re just making it a routine, wanting to be at that level, and having that desire and fight,” Bear Lake coach Wendy Parker said. “They’re finally on the competitive level.”

Kalisha Parker, who was a key part of the team last year as a sophomore, is now the Bears’ top hitter as a junior with 302 kills. Senior Hailey Humpherys, who had 152 kills in the regular season, is also back.

The Bears have plenty of other seniors playing big roles with Lydia Johnson, who led the team with 96 blocks, Savannah Flake, and setter Eliza Sharp.

Bear Lake plays Firth in the first round. The Cougars are defending state champions, but just the No. 2 seed out of District 6 this year after being beaten by West Jefferson. Bear Lake and Firth played twice at the Idaho Falls tournament, with the Bears winning both.

“They’re excited and ready, I think,” Parker said. “We’ve had 13 wins in a row, they’ve been strong, and I think we’ll just continue that, hopefully.”

WEST SIDE PIRATES

Last trip to state: 2017 (2-2)

IHSAA state titles: 3 (2011)

First-round opponent: Valley (13-12)

Preview:

With the school’s last state tournament appearance coming three years ago, no girls on the Pirates’ current roster have state tournament experience.

Regardless, head coach Melinda Royer is still feeling confident.

“We’re working hard this week and feeling good about our chances,” Royer said. “We kind of went through a couple building years and now feel like we have a great team put together.”

The Pirates are the No. 2 seed out of District 5 behind Bear Lake, but beat the Bears once in the regular season.

They’ll face Valley, the No. 1 seed from District 4, in the first round at 10:30 a.m. Friday.

“(Valley) looks like a good team, but I feel confident that we can get them,” Royer said. “I feel like we’ve got more weapons, and maybe a little harder schedule than they did. So we’re feeling confident about the first round.”

Those weapons include two sister pairings at hitter — Jesse and Emma Mariscal, and Abby and Kajsia Fuller — plus Sydnie Thain, another experienced hitter. Madalyn Barzee leads West Side’s defense as the libero.

1A DI state tournament, Jerome HS

Defending champion: Troy

GRACE GRIZZLIES

Last trip to state: 2019 (1-2)

IHSAA state titles: None

First-round opponent: North Star (11-1)

Preview:

2020 will be the Grizzlies’ third-straight trip to state, but not much of that experience will transfer over for this year’s team.

“We lost four seniors last year and three of them played major roles, so this is kind of a fresh team,” Grace coach Heidi Stoddard said. “They’re a great group of girls. I’ve told them not to go with too much pressure, but go with positive attitudes, and the rest takes care of itself.”

Because of the lack of 1A DI teams in the area, Stoddard hasn’t seen much, if any, of the other teams at the tournament — including the Grizzlies’ first-round opponent, North Star Charter from Eagle.

“That’s what hard about being where we’re at, I don’t know anything about any of the other teams in our class,” Stoddard said. “We kind of go in blind, and this year with the COVID protocols, we can’t even go in and watch other teams play (at the state tournament).”

Senior middle blocker Maniah Clegg is one of the holdovers from last year’s team, while junior outside hitter Kylie Hulse has come on strong recently. Another junior, Sara Anderson, is the libero.

When our passing is on, we really kind of click well together. Our serving has been really tough. Our strength is our serving, but we’re just all-around strong right now.

“She doesn’t let anything hit the floor, and she’s a good team leader to have in the back,” Stoddard said.