CLARK FORK — It was more formality than anything, as the No. 1 seed Clark Fork Wampus Cats went out and handled their business as usual, sweeping Lakeside 25-14, 25-14, 25-23 in the championship of the 1A District 1 volleyball tournament on Saturday at Clark Fork High School.

Brooke Stevens posted 21 assists, nine digs, five kills and three aces, Tessa Sutton hammered 10 kills and Ellie Kiebert had eight kills and four assists for the Wampus Cats (17-9), who owned their league opponents this year.

The win puts the Cats into the state tournament, where they open with last year’s state runners-up Litehouse Christian (14-4) on Friday at Borah High School in Boise. Head coach Cindy Derr knows she is taking a talented and experienced team with title aspirations, but knows it will take some doing to bring home a trophy.

“We want to take one set, one match at a time, not look forward. We’re in a tough bottom bracket, the first- and second-place teams from last year are in it,” said Derr of the state draw. “If we can take care of business on our side, not get freaked out, we’ve played a lot of higher level teams this year.”

Ali Sutton and Sophie McMahon each added six kills in the final, as the Cats boast their best volleyball team in many years.

“Sophie played an amazing back row, she played really well,” described Derr. “They settled in, the girls kept digging away. Just another humdinger of a league match.”

No. 3 seed Lakeside won 25-21, 25-14, 25-17 over No. 2 Genesis Prep in the first semi, while the Cats dispatched Mullan 25-10, 25-15, 25-4 in the other semi.

Lakeside finished 8-8, Genesis Prep 8-7.

Kiebert tallied seven kills, Tessa Sutton five kills, Ali Sutton six kills, Brooke Stevens 20 assists and six aces and Hailey Bristol four aces against Mullan.

Derr has coached past Wampus Cat teams to state trophies, and believes another could be in the works with a stellar senior class.

“I’d love to come home with a trophy. It’s a unit, they know what they need to do to get it taken care of,” she said. “They all have the same goal, they want to go down and represent the school well.”