Nothing like going into the tournament with a rousing "Senior Night" victory, which is what the Wood River High School volleyball team accomplished Tuesday in Hailey.
Supporters in the jam-packed gym were rooting like crazy as top-seeded Wood River (19-10, 6-0 league) ran the table in the Great Basin Conference West with a 25-18, 25-20, 26-24 league triumph over the #2-seeded Burley Bobcats.
Wood River, the two-time defending GBW tournament champion, will open this year's four-team state qualifying meet Monday, Oct. 20 with a 5 p.m. match against #4-seeded Minico of Rupert. Burley will play #3-seeded Jerome at the same time in the Hailey gym.
Final matches are Tuesday. Wood River is seeking the school's 21st district tournament title and 22nd trip to the state tournament, this year scheduled for Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Skyline in Idaho Falls.
Rounding out Wood River's regular season was Wednesday night's 25-23, 25-23, 12-25, 25-23 non-conference loss at Buhl.
Cutthroats, Carey clash
With excellent serving and some timely hitting by Kayla Bailey (8 kills), the Carey School volleyball team (12-9, 7-5 league) wrapped up its regular season with a 25-13, 25-9, 25-12 Northside Conference victory over The Community School (0-13, 0-12) Tuesday in Sun valley.
Bailey (2 blocks for points, 10 successful serves with 3 aces) was an all-around force for coach Kathy Whitworth's Panthers. Other point-getters were Amy Ellsworth (3 kills, 3 blocks for points), Jenni Murphy (2 kills, 8 serves), Chelsey Hunt (11 serves, 2 aces), Jessica Parke (11 serves), Shelby Hansen (5 serves) and Taylor Whitby (7 winning serves).
Coach Reamy Goodwin's Cutthroats had another promising effort led by Morgan Pintler (3 kills, 4 serves, 2 aces), Maggie Flood (3 kills), Julie Doan (3 kills) and Meredith Pintler (3 serves, 1 kill). Sophia Carkonen (2 blocks for points) and Natalie Goddard (2 winning serves) also pitched in.
Both Blaine County schools begin play in the seven-team Northside Conference tourney Saturday, Oct. 18 at Murtaugh.
The #4-seeded Panthers will open against #5-seeded Magic Valley Christian at 4 p.m., with the winner going against top-seeded two-time defending champion Richfield (13-5, 11-1) at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Mackay outlasted Richfield 19-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 15-11 Wednesday.
Camas County (11-6, 8-4), the third seed, will play #6 Murtaugh at 5:30 p.m. and #2-seeded Dietrich (11-4, 10-2) will go against #7-seeded Community School at 7 p.m. The tournament continues Monday.
Wood River junior Grace Lagodich goes high to put down a winner for Wood River against Burley Tuesday in Hailey.
Photo by David N. Seelig
