Butte County claims repeat championship; Rockland, Malad, Bear Lake grab trophies

EASTERN IDAHO — The Butte County Pirates are back-to-back 2A volleyball champions after another dominant run through the state tournament. The Pirates dropped just one set all weekend, on their way to claiming another banner.

Butte County earned the tournament’s top seed after going 36-2 — with those two losses coming at the hands of the Madison Bobcats and Bonneville Bees during the ThunderBee Volleyball Classic in mid-September. The Pirates finished the 2025 season on a 23-match winning streak, during which they dropped just four sets.

That is domination.

They started the tournament Thursday with a 25-12, 25-11, 25-14 showing against No. 8 seed Liberty Charter. On Friday, they made it consecutive straight-set wins, 25-20, 25-16, 26-24 over No. 4 Oakley.

Butte County continued the sweep run against No. 2 Troy, taking the semifinal matchup Saturday morning 25-17, 25-23, 25-22.

Troy had to take down Oakley for a rematch with the Pirates, and did so in a 3-2 thriller that took extra points in the fifth set. The Trojans, despite the heavy overtime, gave Butte County a run for its money in the championship round.

But the champions proved too much for Troy, earning a 25-17, 25-23, 20-25, 25-10 win for the title.

Other local trophy-winners

Rockland

The Rockland Bulldogs, who opened the 1A tournament as its No. 4 seed, battled back from a second-round loss to the eventual champion Horseshoe Bend to win three consecutive matches and earn a rematch with the Mustangs.

Rockland forced a decisive fifth set, pushing that set to the brink as well, but eventually dropped the championship match in a reverse sweep, 23-25, 23-25, 25-16, 25-22, 15-13.

The Bulldogs will bring a second-place trophy home from Coeur d’Alene.

Malad

Malad’s 3A championship aspirations took a shot to the gut Thursday, when the No. 3 seed was upset by sixth-seed Melba.

The Dragons responded by rattling off four straight wins, to earn a spot in the championship match.

No. 1 seed Ambrose escaped Malad’s clutches, though, taking the title match in five sets, 25-11, 26-24, 23-25, 23-25, 17-15.

This is Malad’s third consecutive runner-up finish.

Bear Lake

The Bear Lake Bears have been the class of 4A volleyball for two years now, and after a championship finish in 2024, the Bears opened this year’s tournament as the top seed. But No. 5 Fruitland was the queen of the mountain this time.

Bear Lake cruised past No. 8 Timberlake in the opening round at Idaho Falls’ Mountain America Center, before being outmatched by the Grizzlies in the second round, 3-1.

The Bears swept Filer aside, then topped Kimberly, 3-1, to move back to the winners’ side of the bracket. A 3-1 victory over Cole Valley earned Bear Lake a rematch with Fruitland, and they took that rematch in five sets to set up a winner-take-all championship meeting.

After winning four matches on championship Saturday, though, the Bears ran out of gas and were put away by Fruitland in a shortened best-of-three match, 25-21, 25-21.

For information about the 5A and 6A championships, visit East Idaho Sports’ coverage from Boise — here.

East Idaho Sports will bring coverage from the two east Idaho banner-hanging ceremonies.