It wasn't pretty, but it was pretty effective and did the job.
Wood River High School's top-seeded volleyball team firmed up its defense after a sluggish start and beat the #3-seeded Jerome Tigers 25-27, 25-17, 25-20, 25-19 Tuesday night in the championship match of the Great Basin Conference West tournament on the Hailey floor.
The Wolverines won with a well-balanced attack.
Leading the way were senior Angela Coleman (13 kills, 11 winning serves), junior Grace Lagodich (11 kills, 6 winning serves), senior Kaylee Baker (12 kills, 3 blocks for points, 10 serves with 4 aces) and senior Hanna Gustafson (10 kills).
Senior co-captain Kylie Anderson shifted the offense into high gear and sparked the defensive effort with great digs and passes from the back. Wood River setters Jessica Hamilton and Haleigh Hall got the ball where it needed to be and produced points.
The victory gave Wood River (22-10) its third straight GBW title and 21st district championship in school annals. It clinched a 22nd state tournament berth for Wood River, now headed to the State 4A meet Oct. 31 in Idaho Falls.
It wasn't all rosy, though.
For whatever reason, Wood River didn't play its best against Jerome Tuesday. Coaches Tim Richards and Gary Carr hoped the Wolverines could regroup for their Great Basin Conference championship and state seeding match against a very tough Century squad Thursday night.
Century (41-6) easily beat Preston 25-13, 25-16, 25-17 in Tuesday's Fifth District championship match in Pocatello.
The Diamondbacks in 2007 and Preston in 2005-06 have beaten Wood River in 4A intra-district play the past three years. But the Wolverines hoped to reverse that curse when they visited Century Thursday for conference bragging rights and to determine seeding for the state meet.
The winner of Thursday's Century-Wood River match drew the Boise-area third-place team for the 10 a.m. first-round match on Halloween at Skyline. The downer in that bracket is that defending champ Bonneville of Idaho Falls is likely to be waiting in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, assuming Wood River lost to Century Thursday, the Wolverines will play the Boise-area champion Friday, Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. at Skyline. But really, when you look at it, there's no easy path at state.
Wood River, having polished off Jerome twice in the three-game minimum during the season, might have been expecting an easy match Tuesday after Jerome upset #2-seeded Burley 27-25, 14-25, 25-18, 25-23.
The Wolverines and Burley had staged a memorable five-game battle Monday in the championship semi-final. Many of the Hailey girls expected Burley to make it back.
That didn't happen. Jerome was waiting, and Wood River might have overlooked the Tigers. Jerome surprised slow-footed Wood River 27-25 in the first game as sophomore setter Melissa Marsing hurt the home team with tips and good sets into the quick-set Tiger attack.
More than anything, Wood River beat itself with inconsistent serving and erratic passing. And Jerome found the holes in the Hailey defense.
"We knew what they were doing," said libero Kylie Anderson about Jerome's tip tactics. "It was just a matter of thinking about it and getting our focus and putting all our skills together. We started moving better."
Senior Angela Coleman said afterward, "Sometimes we play down to the level of our competition. It could hurt us at state, but I think we'll play better when we play better teams."
Coleman, playing "on one leg," because of her right knee injury, according to coach Richards, came in and steadied the Wolverines. Lagodich pounded four big kills down the home stretch of the 25-17 second-game win. Hamilton and Baker served very effectively.
Playing better as a team, Wood River built big leads of 22-15 and 22-11 in the third and fourth games before Jerome chipped away. Gustafson (2 blocks for points) and Baker each had three kills in the third game. Lagodich and Baker made three kills in the fourth. Coleman served six winners in the finale as Hailey prevailed.
Top Tigers besides setter Marsing (7 winning serves, tons of assists) were senior Jordann Hollifield (10 kills, 6 blocks), senior Hayley Reinstra (11 kills) and senior Chelsea Layne (7 kills, 5 serves).
Mushers, Tigers join Dietrich
The Camas County Mushers and Richfield Tigers will be joining the 2008 Northside Conference champion Dietrich Blue Devils in the State 1A Division 2 tournament Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Burley High School.
Third-seeded Camas County (14-7) upset 2006-07 Northside champion Richfield (14-7) 25-22, 21-25, 17-25, 25-22, 15-12 Tuesday night in the state-seeding second-place match of the Northside tournament at Murtaugh High School. Earlier, Camas assured its state trip with a 25-19, 25-23, 25-21 victory that ended the season of #4-seeded Carey (14-11).
Priming the pump for coach Ben Stroud's Camas County Mushers was freshman hitting star Katelyn Peterson.
Carey settled for fourth place in the seven-school meet, having beaten Murtaugh 25-12, 25-17, 25-14 earlier Tuesday in the loser bracket. The Camas match was the final action for Carey Panther seniors Kelsey Green, Kayla Bailey, Ashley Harshbarger, Emilee Butcher, Shelby Hansen, Chelsey Hunt and Emily Andrews.
Wood River High School volleyball players and coaches enjoy the great feeling that comes when you win a tournament championship on your home floor. Posing after their Great Basin West triumph Tuesday night are, front from left, Jessica Hamilton, Sara Koonce, Shelby Grubbs, Kylie Anderson and Monica Garceau and, back from left, Hanna Gustafson, Kaylee Baker, coach Tim Richards, Haleigh Hall, Haley Libert, Angela Coleman, coach Gary Carr, Grace Lagodich and Ellen Johnson. Photo by David N. Seelig
