Vikings, Timberwolves show out in Spikefest

The Garfield-Palouse Vikings and the Tekoa-Rosalia Timberwolves represented Whitman County volleyball in the Spikefest volleyball tournament at Rosalia high school on Saturday, Sept. 17.

The tournament was played in a round-robin format, with no bracket winner or playoff format being introduced, the tournament being solely for the purpose of getting as many games as possible for the teams.

The tournament was played with first-to-two rules, with the first team to win two sets being declared the winner. The sets were played to 25 points with a third if-needed set being played to 15.

Garfield-Palouse played six matches, winning two. The first match was a 25-21, 25-21 loss against St. Georges, the second a 25-15, 25-23 loss against Valley Christian, the third a 25-14, 25-13 loss against Wilbur-Creston, the fourth a 25-18, 25-16 win against Cusick, the fifth a 25-16, 25-16 loss against Prescott and the final game a 25-18, 25-17 win against Tekoa-Rosalia.

Sammy Pfaff led the team with 19 total kills on the tournament, Clare Bowechop had 15 digs on the day, Sammy Pfaff had four total blocks, Morgan Lentz had 13 total aces and Megan Olson had 23 aces for the team.

"We had a decent day," Vikings coach Genna Palmer said. "We're really, really young and it showed. We had a lot of ups and a lot of downs but we ended on a good note. We started on a good note. The middle was a little rocky."

Garfield-Palouse ended the day against Whitman County rival Tekoa-Rosalia in what was a good final showing for the team.

"(The match) was great," Palmer said. "We had a freshman, Clare Bowechop. She did a really good job picking things up for us tonight. And I was just happy to see them get out there and play as a team."

It was a win the team needed. Including the wins and losses in the tournament, the team is 3-5 on the season, after losing against Reardan to open the season and beating Touchet two days later.

Tekoa-Rosalia is another young team that hopes to gain experience from this tournament going forward.

"I think we did a really good job," Timberwolves coach Brian Reid said. "We're young, lot of different players. We lost four varsity players last week due to injury and I think the tournament went really well. We had lots of touches, which is really going to improve us for later on this year."

The Timberwolves had several long rallies, even in matches where they came out on the losing end, something that Reid says is a good sign for his team.

"It was really encouraging," Reid said. "Especially for the younger girls. A lot of little things to work on, a lot of unforced errors that we'll button up (this) week at practice with those kids getting used to their new positions. But overall, I thought it was a great day."

Tekoa-Rosalia beat Chesterton 2-0, lost to Waitsburg 2-1, lost to Wilbur-Creston 2-1, lost to Valley Christian and lost to Garfield-Palouse.

Full results and stats for Tekoa-Rosalia were not available at press time.