POCATELLO — Highland beat Sugar-Salem 25-15, 21-25, 15-8 to take the gold bracket championship at the Peg Peterson tournament in Pocatello on Saturday.

The tournament, hosted by Highland, was held partially at Highland and partially at the Mountain View Events Center.

The Rams, who went undefeated in pool play Friday, beat Filer, Rigby, Sugar-Salem and then Sugar-Salem again on Saturday to take the title.

“They just played really good volleyball, it’s as simple as that,” Highland coach Kelsey Rhoades said. “Everybody was doing their job and contributing to it, it wasn’t just one player. Every single that was on the bench coming in was doing their job, our defense was doing their job, our hitters were doing their job, and that’s what it comes down to.”

Facing a winner-take-all race to 15 points in the final set after the Diggers evened the match, Rhoades knew the Rams had to start fast — and they did, barely letting Sugar-Salem get a toehold in the final set.

“You never want to get caught behind because, especially when you’re playing a good team like Sugar, it’s really hard to come back if you let a team get away from you,” Rhoades said. “It’s really important to come out swinging right off the bat, and luckily that’s what we did.”

Highland’s hitting duo of Mackenna Thayne and McKenna Armstrong had 59 and 54 kills, respectively, in the tournament, while setter Autumn Thompson had 143 assists and libero Kaylee Nielsen had 94 digs.

Brackets were reseeded after Friday’s round of pool play, with Highland the only local team in the gold bracket.

In the silver bracket, Preston won its first two matches before falling to Middleton and Fruitland, while Bear Lake went 1-2 on Saturday.

Blackfoot won the bronze bracket, going 4-0 on Saturday and beating Burley 25-20, 25-17 in the final behind 10 kills from Marli Pearson.

“We played very well,” Blackfoot coach Kiarra Johnson said. “I thought the girls had high intensity the while time, and we were playing to win.”

Elsewhere in the bronze bracket, Pocatello went 2-2, Malad and Snake River 1-2, and American Falls and Marsh Valley 0-2.

CROSS COUNTRY

CARDINAL CLASSIC

At Soda Springs, the Pocatello girls took first place with a score of 71 points, narrowly beating Madison’s 82.

Preston was third with 116 points.

Bailey Bird of Pocatello was the top local finisher, taking fourth with a time of 20 minutes, 50.3 seconds.

Teammate Hailey Renzello finished sixth, with Preston’s Andie Bell seventh.

Other local teams in the 19-team field included Bear Lake (fifth), Blackfoot (eighth), Soda Springs (10th), Highland (11th), Snake River (13th), Century (15th) and Rockland (16th).

On the boys side, Pocatello finished third behind Idaho Falls and Madison, with Preston fourth.

Blackfoot was sixth, Soda Springs seventh, Highland eighth, Century 12th, Snake River 15th, Rockland 21st and Bear Lake 22nd.

Pocatello's Shane Gard was the top local finisher, taking fourth in 16:40.2.

BOYS SOCCER

MARSH VALLEY 0, SUGAR-SALEM 0

At Sugar-Salem, a shorthanded Marsh Valley squad held Sugar-Salem to a scoreless draw.

"We're just still just trying to get over our injuries," Marsh Valley coach Devin Shurtliff said. "Sugar is a good team. It was a good result given how many injuries we have right now."

Marsh Valley (1-2-1) plays at Pocatello on Thursday.

GIRLS SOCCER

POCATELLO 3, CANYON RIDGE 1

At Pocatello, the Indians moved back to .500 at 3-3.

Hailey Buffa, Kelia Tatum and Lexi Bott all scored first-half goals for Pocatello, which hosts Shelley on Tuesday.

MARSH VALLEY 1, SUGAR-SALEM 0

At Sugar-Salem, Marsh Valley made a 1-0 halftime lead stand up.

Abby Marshall scored the lone goal of the game, assisted by Cami Harris, late in the first half for Marsh Valley.

"It was like watching all the pieces finally come together," Marsh Valley coach Rachelle Gilbert said. "They worked really well and cohesively offensively and defensively. We had to defend, that's been one of the things we've struggled with early in the season."

Marsh Valley (3-2-1) plays Saturday at Malad.