| Summit
starts 1-2 in league play
One third of the way through their current volleyball season, Summit Academy’s young volleyball team finds itself with a one win and five loss record, but with a ton of thrills and spills as every match has been gallantly contested and close in most cases right down to the wire. In the newly created IHSAA division, Class 1, Division 2 for Idaho high schools less than 100, the Patriot ladies sport a league record of 1 and 2, involving narrow losses to Division 2 league members Highland and Nezperce, and an equally narrow win over league opponent Culdesac. Summit’s other two losses come against Division 1 fellow Whitepine opponents Timberline and Clearwater Valley. Following their final season match against Culdesac, a home league game on October 8, the Patriots will enter state district competition with Nezperce, Culdesac, and Highland, with two winners advancing to a regional playoff against the top two teams from District 1 from the north. The winner of the tourney moves on to state, while the runner-up goes into a state play-in game with a team from the districts south of us. That play-in game is currently scheduled for Grangeville in late October. In the season league opener against Highland, at Highland, Summit won the second and fourth games 25-23 and 25-19, but lost games one and three by scores of 19-25 and 15-25, with another 8-15 loss in the final, giving Highland the match. No jv game was played that evening. Culdesac’s league match, also away, reversed the Highland outcome, as Summit roared off to wins in games one and two by scores of 25-23, 25-22, then dropped the next two 21-25, and 19-25. Behind Kim Frei’s strong serves however, the Patriots took the final fifth game tie breaker 15-10 to record the school’s first ever league win in IHSAA competition. Jayvee competition that night saw the Patriots drop two straight games to the Wolves, 20-25 and 13-25. Summit’s third league match, against league leader Nezperce, resulted in a three-game sweep for the Indians, the Indians prevailing 16-25, 20-25, 8-25, the last game Summit’s worst loss in the young season. The Indians also swept the Patriots two games in the preliminary jayvee, 21-25 and 16-25. Playing against larger Whitepine opponents Timberline and CV, the young Patriots dropped both jayvee prelims, losing 22-25 and 19-25 to Timberline, then just this Monday night dropping a three game match with scores of 22-25 in the first, a Summit win 25-19 in the second, and a third 6-15 loss in the final. Varsity Patriots played well, but service errors cost them the match against Timberline, dropping all three games by the close scores 23-25, 18-25, and 22-25, with much the same results in the CV varsity matchup, Summit taking games one and three by scores of 25-12 and 25-19, but dropping the second, forth and fifth 19-25, 22-25, and 6-15, again service errors causing critical points lost in the losing matches. Summit’s ten girl roster of Kim Frei-Senior, Juniors Tara Stubbers, Jenn Wemhoff, and Margaret Yalbuw, Sophomores Jamie Chmelik, Vicki Schlader, and Rachel Wemhoff, and Freshmen Nicole Frei, Savanah Prigge, and Courtney Schwartz has been a bit handicapped this entire season so far, as last year starting setter Yalbuw has only been able to play in the last CV game, just recovered from a foot injury suffered early in the season, and starting spiker Savanah Prigge missing the last two games against Timberline and CV because of an out-of-town family celebration. The Patriots are looking forward to being at full strength for the last two thirds of their season, and district and regional competition beyond that, with their first chance ever of going to state. Next action for the young Patriots is a rematch against the Timberline Spartans here in Cottonwood at Prairie High School, tonight Wednesday, September 17, with jayvee action starting at 6:00 P.M. |
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