Spikers solid in debut

Hungry Horse News

The Columbia Falls High School volleyball teams played well at the Tip-off Tournaments held last weekend around the Flathead Valley.

The varsity squad, playing in Whitefish, took second in its pool, finishing 6-4 for the day. The junior varsity, playing at the CFHS gym, finished 3-3 and the freshman team went 4-2 in the Columbia Falls Junior High School gym.

The varsity girls split their first matches with Bigfork, winning 21-20 and losing 21-15, before splitting with Browning, winning 21-19 and losing 21-10.

Later action saw the Wildkats heat up, defeating Ronan 21-14 and 21-18, and sweeping Stevensville 21-9 and 21-10. In their final match, the girls lost to Flathead 21-11 and 21-12.

Head coach Josie Brown said the team started a little sluggish, but came on later in the day to play stronger defense.

"We started off slow in the morning and then the girls got together and picked things up and got more aggressive at the net," she said. "We had some good blocking, some good defense. They're still trying to come together."

Brown said that sophomore Sarah Marcille provided a spark off the bench in the afternoon matches, using a potent serve to help keep the girls in the matches.

"Every time she came off the bench, she served quite a few aces," Brown said. "That was really helpful when we were down."

Despite the overall winning record, Brown said the girls will be trying to improve their hitting and net play before the next match in Hamilton.

In splitting their games in Columbia Falls, the junior varsity team defeated Stevensville in three sets, defeated Bigfork in three sets and beat Flathead in three sets. The team's three losses were to Whitefish, Corvallis and Hamilton.

The freshman team defeated Libby, Polson, Ronan and Corvallis, but lost to both Flathead teams.

The teams will play this Friday in Hamilton at the Hamilton tournament starting at 10 a.m.