Spikers look tough at tournament

By DAVID ERICKSON

Whitefish Pilot

The Whitefish varsity volleyball team ended up with an 11-1 record at the Season Starter prep volleyball tournament Saturday at Whitefish High School gym.

It was an all-day event, with 23 doubleheaders scheduled between nine schools from 9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. — and the action was non-stop. The field included all the Northwestern A teams, as well as Flathead Home School and Stillwater Christian.

The format was a modified round robin, with each team playing five matches. Matches consisted of two rally-scored games to 25.

In an odd twist, there was only one split the entire day — between host Whitefish and Libby, the top two teams at the end of the day.

“Libby is a great ball club,” said Bulldog head varsity coach Jackie Fuller. “My girls did a super job in competing.”

Fuller said the tournament was a success for all the teams.

“It went really well,” she said. “Our goal was to get a lot of playing time, and we did that.”

Prior to Saturday, many of the Bulldogs had no varsity playing time. Fuller said she has only one returning starter on her squad from last year. She said her team has a few areas that need work, mainly defense and consistency on serves.

Although the Lady Bulldogs are the defending state champs, Fuller said her team doesn’t have a monkey on its back.

“It’s a brand new year, we lost seven players, so we have a long ways to go,” she said. “We’re just worrying about us right now.”

Whitefish heads to Polson on Saturday, with a tip-off time of 3 p.m.

Whitefish Season Starter

Volleyball Tournament

Aug. 25

Team W L

Whitefish 11 1

Libby 9 1

Stillwater Christian 8 2

Bigfork 8 2

Ronan 4 6

Flathead Home S. 0 10

Columbia Falls 2 8

Polson 2 8

Browning 2 8