The good thing is the Wood River High School varsity volleyball team finally got its 2007 campaign going Tuesday in Hailey and breezed to a Great Basin Conference West three-game triumph over Jerome.
Having had its first two competitions of the season canceled by the Castle Rock Fire and its repercussions, Wood River (1-1) defeated Jerome 25-21, 25-20, 25-14 Tuesday.
In a perfect world, Wood River would also have beaten Century of Pocatello in its first match of Tuesday's triangular. But the world isn't perfect, and Century's Diamondbacks had a few more matches under their belt than Wood River.
And Century prevailed 25-17, 25-16, leaving Hailey with a two-match sweep combined with its 25-13, 25-22 victory over the Jerome Tigers.
"Yeah, I was a little disappointed against Century," said Wood River coach Tim Richards.
The match was the only meeting of the season between Century and Wood River, and the outcome could have a bearing on where the Great Basin Conference state seeding match is ultimately played in October.
"It was our first match, while Century has played 10, and our timing was a little off," Richards added.
"Century only had two hitting errors the whole match and we had nine blocking errors. It means Century was scoring points off the block and wasn't just getting free swings, which is good, because at least we touched the ball."
In another respect, service errors; Wood River showed signs it was playing its first matches. Against both Jerome and Century, the Wolverines averaged five service errors a game. "We'd like to have two a game," said Richards.
Leading the hitters against Jerome were co-captains Hannah Gove and Hannah Ward (8 kills each) along with Kaylee Baker (5 kills), Lauren Morgenthaler (5) and Angela Coleman (5). Assists leader was setter Dani Stone.
In service points against Jerome, Kaylee Baker topped the Wolverines with 14 and two aces. Stone added nine service points and four aces.
Wood River visited Pocatello Thursday for another Great Basin match. Next Tuesday, it's off to Twin Falls for a triangular with Gooding.
Tuesday's junior varsity matches had similar results. Century defeated Wood River 25-17, 25-17 and Jerome 25-18, 25-23, then the Wolverines stormed from behind to nip Jerome 22-25, 25-21, 15-10 behind the play of Monica Garceau, Grace Lagodich, Sara Koonce and Ellen Johnson.
The Wood River junior varsity tournament is Saturday in Hailey.
