Two matches, seven games, one long night.
Wood River High's volleyball squad hosted Century and Jerome Tuesday night, winning one match and dropping another. But coach Gary Carr isn't concerned about the scores.
"The girls learned a lot," said Carr, who splits head-coaching duties with Tim Rachards. "They made some mistakes but they were all learning mistakes. And I saw some really good things."
The Wolverines overcame early deficits to knock off Century 2-0 before losing a marathon five-game match to Jerome 3-2 (game scores were not available). According to Carr, the Wolverines were down 8-1 in their first game with Century before staging an unlikely comeback.
"Getting down early like that in rally scoring, that's the kiss of death," Carr said. "To make that kind of comeback is very difficult."
After squeezing past Century¾"They were two very tough games," Carr said¾the Wolverines faced Jerome.
"It was a long day," Carr said. "But the girls learned a lot and they're trying to find their way."
Against Jerome, Wood River, now with a 1-2 overall record, came close to sneaking away with a win.
"But there were just some little pieces that didn't get put together," Carr said. "Otherwise we could have won the match.
"It was a hard fought, good match."
Wood River hosted another triangle match with Twin Falls and Pocatello last night. This weekend, the junior varsity squad will host its own tournament in Hailey.
Carey spikes Bliss
Panther head coach Kathy Whitworth has a team of hard servers.
Carey cruised past Bliss 25-8, 25-23 and 25-11 on Tuesday night to improve their record to 3-1 overall (2-0 in the Northside Conference).
"We served a lot of points," Whitworth said. "We have some hard servers and (Bliss) had a hard time returning them."
Senior setter and all around force RayAnne Hennefer served eight straight times in the third game, Whitworth said. Fellow senior Jessica Royal had six kills and Brenna Silva had four blocks.
The Panthers are playing with a new system this year, using a front row setter instead of a back row setter.
"It's hard to break old habits, but they got some time under their belts (Tuesday night)," Whitworth said. "We just wanted to get a chance to try it out before we get to some tougher games."
The Panthers traveled to Wendell Thursday night and will play in the Hagerman Invitational this weekend.
Mushers dog Cutthroats
The Community School is still looking for its first victory after losing 3-1 to Camas County at home Tuesday night.
The Musher Dogs blew by the Cutthroats (0-2, 0-2 league) 25-14, 25-18, 17-25, 25-11, but head coach Reamy Goodwin isn't worried.
"We're super young," he said. "I know we're going to be much, much better than we are right now at this point in time.
"It's just a matter of getting more games under our belt."
With school camping trips monopolizing time, Reamy said, "It's hard to get a whole lot of stuff accomplished this time of year."
He added that when the school schedule becomes more typical, the team's talent will become evident.
"We have some good athletes at all positions," he said. "Come end of September, we'll start putting the pedal to the metal."
Wood River Volleyball spikes Century 2-0 in the first of two matches at home Tuesday night. The Wolverines also hosted Jerome, losing 3-2. Photo by David N. Seelig
