Hailey spikers
pound ‘Cats
Countdown to
district
Playing
well together as a team, the Wood River High School varsity volleyball
team made short work of the Filer Wildcats 22-20, 21-15, 21-18 last
Tuesday in a big Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference match.
Coach Tim
Richards’ Wolverines (13-13 overall, 5-2 league) put itself in
position for one of the top two seeds in the SCIC league tournament
scheduled to begin Saturday, Oct. 19 at the high school gym in Hailey.
The
return of senior setter Whitney Richards, passing here to Natalie
Green, has given Wood River added experience for the homestretch. Express
photo by David N. Seelig
Wood
River rarely trailed against a Filer squad that had problems putting
together two consecutive serves.
Jessica
King totaled 5 kills and 4 blocks, Charli Lindley 7 kills and Natalie
Green 5 kills. On the stripe King had 11 service points including 4
aces. Whitney Richards (10 sets) added 8 points and Aubrey Kirtley 7.
In the
first game Filer built a 15-5 lead, but Wood River stormed back on 6
winners served by King. Lindley and Green earned 2 big points with
blocks and Whitney Richards served 2 aces. Filer faltered and Kirtley
served out the 22-20 match.
Wood
River broke out to big leads in the final two games. Syringa Stark’s
tip and Green’s ace gave the Wolverines some breathing room at 15-11
in the second game.
Lindley
notched all 7 of her kills in the third game, but Filer battled back
into an 18-18 tie. At that point Whitney Richards made a great dig that
ended with an Emily Smith kill, then King added a kill and Smith
finished the match serving an ace.
Wood
River will try to avenge an early-season setback when it visits Jerome
tonight, Wednesday, then the Hailey spikers have league road trips to
Filer Thursday and Declo Tuesday.
Leading
the league is Buhl (10-2) with nine straight wins and a 6-1 SCIC record.
Wood River stands at 5-2, Filer 4-3, Declo 3-4, Gooding 2-5 and Kimberly
1-6.
When the
SCIC league tournament convenes, six matches will be played to eliminate
two teams on the first day of action, Saturday, Oct. 19, then the
tournament will continue Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 22-23.
At stake
will be two berths in the State 3A tournament Nov. 1-2 at Twin Falls
High School.
The SCIC
junior varsity tournament will also be played Saturday, Oct. 19 in
side-by-side volleyball action on the Hailey hardwoods.
Trip to Pocatello
Highland
of Pocatello was a last-minute addition to Wood River’s season
schedule, replacing 2A Wendell, and the 5A Rams have proved to be a
worthy opponent.
Last
Thursday Highland swept the season series with visiting Wood River
21-11, 22-20, 20-22, 21-13. The Ram defense was very solid, during one
stretch repelling 17 attacks by King and allowing her only 2 kills.
"We
started slowly and finally got going and had two close games in the
middle games," said coach Richards.
Emily
Smith led the way with 5 kills and Natalie Green had a solid blocking
night. Aubrey Kirtley notched 13 service points and Whitney Richards
added 11.
After
beating Wood River, Highland (25-4 overall) traveled to Boise for last
weekend’s Borah tournament and ended up losing in the final match to
Eagle, Richards said.