Quickness often trumps height in high school volleyball, witness trophy cases full of Idaho state championships for the traditionally small St. Maries and Bear Lake prep squads.
Volleyball enthusiasts saw a good example of quickness beating height Wednesday during Wood River High School's "Senior Night" volleyball match on the Hailey hardwoods.
The Buhl Tribe, undefeated champions of the 3A Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference this fall, used their advantage in quickness and some terrific defense to surprise the taller 4A Wood River Wolverines 25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-9 Wednesday night in Hailey.
Rallying from behind, Buhl consistently passed the ball where it needed to go, and the Tribe defense picked up nearly everything Wood River could dish out. You could see the difference in kills—73 for Buhl, 49 for Wood River, and the fact that Hailey's serving never got untracked.
Buhl hitter Abbe Reynolds (19 kills) was nearly unstoppable from the left side, but she wasn't the only one set up capably by setter Cheryl Geiger. Leslie Hunter had 14 kills, Miranda Juker 12 and Jaime VanPatten 11 for the Tribe, coming off their five-game home league victory over Gooding Tuesday night.
The dagger in Wood River's back was the serving of Miranda Juker in the fourth game. Juker ran off 11 consecutive points as Buhl grabbed a 14-1 lead. Although Wood River gamely rallied from 14-1 and 20-14 deficits and trimmed Buhl's lead to 23-22, the Tribe prevailed 25-22 and then passed expertly in Game Five.
Senior Jamie Stone (8 kills, 8 winning serves, 3 aces) had a good night on offense and defense for Wood River. Kelsey Lidstrom (5 blocks for points) added 12 kills and 10 serves, Hannah Richards had 9 kills and 8 serves and Leah McIlhenny came up with 8 kills and had 5 blocks for points. Elissa Baker had 13 serves (3 aces) and 7 kills.
Honored Wednesday night were seniors Stone, Richards and Stefanie Yates. Stone, daughter of Dave and Jolene Stone, and Richards, daughter of Tim and Kim Richards, are two-year Wood River starters. Yates, daughter of Kerry and Cindy Yates, works hard to be the best 5-4 player on the Wood River volleyball team.
Wood River (19-13 overall, 4-2 league) finished up its Great Basin Conference West season Tuesday night with a 25-11, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21 triumph at Burley. The Wolverines will meet the Bobcats once again Monday, Oct. 17 in the first round of the league tournament at Jerome.
Wood River junior Elissa Baker spikes a shot against Buhl's Cheryl Geiger Wednesday night in Hailey. The Wolverines lost their "Senior Night" match against the Tribe in five games.
