BY MICHAEL DAVID

The Wolverine Den was packed with students and parents on Senior Night at Wood River High School.

They had gathered to root on the home team and honor the five seniors playing in their final regular-season home volleyball game. The seniors and their teammates did not disappoint, disposing of the feisty Mountain Home Tigers in three straight sets, 3-0.

Annie Kaminski, Haley Bjorkman, Torie King, Patrea Topp and Willa Beriker received their due recognition prior to the first serve and took the court escorted by the sounds of the Wolverine Drum Line and their noisy loyal fans.

Perhaps adjusting to some nervous energy, Wood River got down early to the visitors from Mountain Home, 7-3. Behind a flurry of kills from middle blocker Kaminski and Junior outside hitter, Emily Vandenberg, the Wolverines clawed back into the set outscoring the Tigers with a 9-2 run to take a 12-9 lead.

Mountain Home battled back to a 12-12 tie, and the two squads traded side-outs until Wood River put together a scoring run spurred by back-to-back Kaminski kills. But the Wolverines’ 21-17 lead was short lived as the Tigers clawed back to tie the set 22-22.

Wood River earned their first set point at 24-23 but Mountain Home got the side-out to knot it back up 24-24. The Tigers scored and had their chance to seize set number one, but were treated by two straight Kaminski kills that gave the Wolverines another set point, 26-25.

However, the visitors again staved off defeat with the side-out and tied the set. Middle blocker Beriker’s kill set up the home team with their third chance to take the first set, and outside hitter Bjorkman sealed the deal with a kill to take the hard fought 1-0 set lead.

The Wolverines started off hot in the second set, taking a 6-2 lead before facing another mini-comeback by the Tigers who pulled within a single point 6-5. A Kaminski block and a Beriker kill jump-started an impressive run from the home team as Wood River rolled to a 25-15 victory to capture the second set.

Set number three appeared to be well in hand as the Wolverines controlled the action and jumped out to a 18-11 lead fueled in part by strong play from Junior Sariah Nielsen, King and Bjorkman. The Tigers, however, refused to roll over, putting together a scoring run of their own to cut the deficit to two points 23-21. Wood River squandered two match points before finally clinching the third set, and the match, 25-23.

The victory improved the Wolverines’ record to 6-5 in conference play and 7-5 overall. Next up for Wood River is a road test against Jerome on Thursday, Oct. 4. They close the regular season against Canyon Ridge in Twin Falls on Tuesday, Oct. 9.