Wednesday, July 7, 2004

Members of the Wood River 18-and-under and 16-and-under teams enjoy their trip to Reno for last week’s Volleyball Festival. Courtesy photo

Spike festival a success for WR

Big Reno tournament

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A select group of high school girls from Wood River High School and the Twin Falls area spent last week in Reno, Nev. competing in the 21st annual Volleyball Festival, a national elite tournament for ages 12-18.

Over 850 teams consisting of more than 10,000 girls came from such states as California, N.Y., Texas, Alaska, Hawaii and Florida, plus Canada and Puerto Rico. Format was best two-of-three games to 25, with a third game played to 15.

Wood River’s 18-and-under team started its play Sunday, June 26 and finished Thursday, June 30. The team’s final record was 6-10, good for 94th place. It was an improvement over last year’s effort at the same tourney. The squad reached as high as 88th place.

On the 18 team were Jessica King, Liz Rippon, Natalie Green, Rachael Richards, Whitney Bond of Twin Falls High School, Lindsay Heimkes of Filer High School and Sara McDaniel of Oak Mountain High School in Alabama.

Most of Wood River’s games were within a couple of points of a win, and many matches went to three games. Wood River defeated California teams from Roseville, San Diego, Los Angeles, Oxnard, Manhattan Beach and Glendora.

In the same tournament, the Wood River 16-and-under squad climbed as high as 79th place in the 244-team field before finishing up its week Friday afternoon with a ranking of 118th place and a total record of 9-6.

The team consisted of Ryann Menges, Hannah Richards, Elissa Baker, Leah McIlhenny, Kelsey Lidstrom and Casey Vegwert of Wood River High, plus Jessica Bond of Twin Falls High School and Lindsay Kulm of Jerome High School.

Casting a wide net, Wood River’s 16-and-under squad captured its wins over teams from Arizona, Alaska, Illinois, California, Hawaii and Oregon.

Coaches Tim Richards of Wood River and Wade Bond coached both teams in Reno.

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