It's a big deal having home court advantage for the Great Basin Conference West tournament, and the Wood River High School varsity volleyball team took another big step toward achieving that goal Tuesday.
Wood River (13-7, 4-0 league) stayed unbeaten in league action with a quick 25-18, 25-15, 25-13 triumph over the Jerome Tigers (7-7, 2-2) in the first round of a three-match triangular meet on the Hailey floor.
The four-team league tournament opens Monday, Oct. 16, and the top-seeded team in regular-season action hosts the entire two-day tournament. The Wolverines have won nine of their 11 home matches this season and like their chances in Hailey.
Wood River needs to beat Minico Tuesday, Oct. 3, in Rupert in order to nail down the title. Minico, winless with four losses in league action, would likely be Wood River's first-round tournament opponent. Great Basin West action winds up with the "Senior Night" match against likely #2-seed Burley (6-6, 2-2) on Oct. 10.
Co-coach Tim Richards saluted the hitting effort of 6-3 junior outside hitter/middle Lauren Morgenthaler in Tuesday's Jerome match. He also pointed out again how valuable that sophomore Angela Coleman has been in digging the ball and setting the Wolverine offense in motion with that all-important first pass.
Tuesday wasn't a total success for Wood River. The night ended with a wake-up call against Filer's Wildcats.
After waiting three hours for freshman and junior varsity matches and for Filer's varsity to beat Jerome 20-25, 25-19, 25-17, Wood River came out flat in the final match of the night—against a scrappy, shorter Filer squad that the Wolverines had beaten 25-20, 25-19 during the Wood River Invitational Sept. 16.
Wood River held early leads of 11-5 and 7-4 in each game, but 3A Filer (8-3) stormed back for 25-20, 25-20 victories to complete its road sweep of the 4A opponents. Filer's 5-9 senior Shanae Astle led the way.
Top Wolverine stats against Filer: Kills—Kelsey Lidstrom 5, Hannah Gove 5. Serves—Casey Vegwert 7, Elissa Baker 7. Assists—Leah McIlhenny 10.
Wood River had a chance to bounce back against a tough 3A team when it traveled to Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference leader Buhl (9-0, 6-0 league) Thursday night.
Wolverine Kelsey Lidstrom goes for the spike in Wood River High School varsity volleyball action. Leah McIlhenny (#8) is ready to assist.
Photo by David N. Seelig
