Clark Fork heading home

BURLEY — The excitement of making the trip to the 1A state tournament alone leaves the Clark Fork volleyball team with the feeling the 2004 season was a success.

Unfortunately, a pair of losses in the opening day of pool play cut short their storybook ending.

In their first match Thursday, the Wampus Cats were narrowly defeated by Oakley 25-22, 25-22, before powering back to beat Counsel 21-25, 29-27, 15-10. However, their toughest challenge of the day proved to be Genesee, which toppled Clark Fork 25-9, 25-20.

"I think Clark Fork has always had a problem winning the first match of the day," said Clark Fork coach Katie Hess. "But against Counsel we did pretty well."

With 25 kills and 70 digs, senior Jennifer Gauthier led the Wampus Cats in stats for all three matches. Michelle Haase added 37 assists, Jolene Meredith had six service aces and Tia Becker finished the day with four blocks.

"Jen and Megan (Hess) dug every ball that got hit at them today," said Hess. "And against Genesee, little Michelle had a block against a 6-foot, 1-inch player that was awesome."

Disappointed that their tournament was short lived, Hess added that there were a lot of positives to be taken out of this year's performance.

"They just wanted to come down here and have fun. They are just thrilled that they are here and they all worked very hard. Even the girls on the bench are cheering the team on and getting into it," she said. "They played for themselves and that makes me happy."