Weiser volleyball makes short work of Payette

The Lady Wolverines participated in the 2018 Snake River Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament at Payette High School last week.  

 Due to a disappointing win-loss record during the regular season and ending the season in fourth- place, which was not indicative of the talent on this year’s Lady Wolverine volleyball team, the Wolverines were forced to participate in a play-in game against the fifth-place Payette Pirates.  

 A win against the Pirates would allow the Wolverines to progress into the actual double-elimination tournament and a potential berth in the 3A State Tournament.

 The Wolverines made short work of the Pirates in the first set, recording a 25-8 pummeling of the struggling Payette squad. However, the Pirates pulled it together in the second set, keeping the score close to a tie at 4-4, but the Pirates had no answer for the strong serving of Sara Lundberg.  Three ace serves, a pair of kills by Grace Soulen and a kill by Reagan Doty enabled Lundberg to go on a 7-0 scoring run and gave the Wolverines a strong 11-4 lead.  

 The Pirate blockers came alive, and coupled with a series of Wolverine miscues, the Pirates minimized the scoring gap substantially to 12-15, but a service error placed Macy Buescher back to serve.  Buescher put on a serving clinic, serving for the last nine points of the set, and recording five aces in the process. With Buescher punishing the passers for the Pirates, the Wolverines won the second set 25-12.

 Energized by the second set, and looking for a match sweep, Weiser coach Lindsay Grant started Buescher in the service position in the third set, and she immediately added another ace to her tally.  The Wolverines took a 6-1 lead before the Pirates could stop the surge off a Wolverine error.  

 The Pirates managed to chip away some of the scoring deficit, pulling within three points at 5-8, but a Pirate service error put Ciana Fuller behind the service line. Fuller served up an ace, while Doty and Soulen tacked on a kill apiece.  

 Leading 12-6, Soulen took her turn serving, and added an ace of her own and widened the Wolverine lead to 15-6.  Despite moments of strong blocking and opportunities to score, the Pirates were simply no match for the Lady Wolverines and the strong serving and hitting.  

 Buescher, Lundberg and Fuller each added another ace apiece to the stats, while Lundberg, Doty and Soulen all contributed kills to finish out the set 25-12 and the match 3-0.