Carey High School's 2007 varsity volleyball team will have better nights than Tuesday, when the Panthers dropped matches to Hansen and Mackay in a season-opening triangular meet on the Panther hardwoods.
Fourth-year Carey coach Kathy Whitworth is patient and knows things will improve. She has taken two Panther squads to the State 1A tournament and realizes things tend to be cyclical in prep sports.
"It should be a good season," she said following Tuesday's meet. "There's a lot of potential there. They are little girls but they try hard. We won't be a really strong hitting and power team so we'll need placement—trying to get the ball in a hole."
The Carey girls, coming off an 8-18 campaign last season, struggled Tuesday in their positioning and finishing power, especially against a state tournament team like Mackay.
"Our seniors and juniors haven't really played together before so there was some uncertainty about where they were supposed to be," Whitworth said. "Only two of our girls—Jenni Cenarrusa and Katie Patterson—played back row last year and that's an important position when you're trying to dig and pass the ball.
"Once we get the girls to feel confident, it will improve. They played well together when we went to camp and we've just got to get back to that."
Carey graduated All-Northside Conference Emily Olsen, Brittany Hennefer and Serene Bingham, but the Panthers return All-Northside honorable mention player Bonnie Olsen. She is one of three senior co-captains for Whitworth.
Bonnie Olsen, Cenarrusa and Patterson will lead the Panther varsity this fall along with juniors Kelsey Green, Kayla Bailey, Ashley Harshbarger, Emilee Butcher, Shelby Hansen and Chelsey Hunt.
The Carey girls got off to a good start in the first match against Hansen Tuesday, taking a seemingly insurmountable 24-13 lead. But the Huskies ran off 11 consecutive points and prevailed 26-24, then captured the second game by a 25-20 score.
Setter Shelby Hansen had four serving aces against Hansen.
"We only missed two of our first serves against Hansen," Whitworth said. "But the young girls are still inconsistent with their serves."
Mackay, led by sophomore Katie McKelvey, simply outmatched Carey and breezed 25-17, 25-13. Mackay also beat Hansen in two games.
Coach Dick Simpson's Carey junior varsity had an impressive start Tuesday night with straight-set victories over Hansen and Mackay.
The Carey JV defeated Hansen 25-16, 25-10 and then gave its fans a little thrill in the match against Mackay. Carey fell behind Mackay 15-7 in the first game before rallying for a 25-23 victory. In the second game Carey trailed 6-0 early and won the match by a 25-16 score.
Juniors on the Panther JV are Jasmine Gamino and Amanda Adamson. Sophomores are Taylor Whitby, Amy Ellsworth, Jenny Murphy, Alisha Lindt and Jessica Parke. Freshmen are Dani Hennfer, Amy Moraz and Lorene Andrews.
Carey (0-2, 0-0) visited Camas County (0-1, 0-1 league) Thursday. Shoshone defeated Camas in three games at Fairfield Tuesday. Next Tuesday, Carey entertains Rockland and Valley of Hazelton for another tri-meet starting at 5 p.m. in Carey.
Cutthroats fall at Richfield
Coach Reamy Goodwin's Community School varsity squad had a tough assignment in its season-opening match Tuesday against defending Northside Conference and Fourth District 1A tournament champ Richfield. And the game was on the Tigers' home court.
But the Cutthroats competed the whole way against a Tiger squad that didn't lose a Northside match last fall and finished 21-6 including two match victories in the Final Eight of the State 1A tournament.
Richfield (1-0, 1-0 league) prevailed 25-21, 25-15, 26-24 and headed into Thursday's home league match against Dietrich. Depending on the fire and school closure situation, the Cutthroats (0-1, 0-1) are due to host Camas County next Tuesday at The Fish Tank in Sun Valley.
